Illusion
by Lilyflower8602
Summary: Lily has lived her whole life under the illusion that she is a muggle-born-witch, or simply a muggle. But as Lily lives her life, she finds out that some secrets are best left untold. A/N=5/16
1. I'm With You

**Ding-dong. The doorbell of the Evan's house rang. Mrs. Evans hurried to answer it. **

"Hello, Rosie. I am sorry for butting in like this. I do hope I'm not imposing. It's just that Remus really wanted to 'see' the baby. I told him it was kicking, and he insisted on coming over. Is this a bad time?" asked Gwen Lupin, the mother of Remus Lupin, age 2. 

"No, not at all. Come in. I was just about to call you!" remarked Rose Evans. 

Rose was the mother of Petunia Evans, who was Remus's age. However, the two children did not get along, which was surprising, considering that their mothers were the best of friends. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans," said Remus politely. Even at an early age, Remus was very polite and grave. 

"Mama said that the baby was kicking you. Does it hurt?" Even so, he was the normal inquisitive toddler. 

"No, bless you dear. Would you like to feel? I think she just woke up from a nap, so she should be nice and active now," replied Mrs. Evans kindly. 

"How do you know it's a girl?" asked Mr. Evans, who was off work since it was a Saturday. Mr. Evans was the Prime Minister, and was very happy to be able to be at home that day. 

"It could be a boy!" 

"It's a girl. I can feel it," said Mrs. Evans. "You'll just have to wait on that son of yours! Now, come in, Remus, Gwen. Would you like anything?" 

"No, thank you. We just ate lunch," said Gwen, stepping into the house. "Come, Remus."  
  


******

"Harder, Rose! Come on! You can do this!" encouraged Gwen Lupin. Both of the friends were at the hospital. Lily Azalea Evans, as they had decided to call her, was being born. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" 

"Mr. Evans, here's your baby girl," said the nurse with a smile, placing the tiny bundle in his arms. 

"You can go see your wife if you like." 

"Hello, darling. How are you? Alright, I hope?" asked Mr. Evans, with a smile. 

"I'm fine, but we need to talk. Soon," said Rose, gravely. "It's important, having to do with the you-know-what that Petty didn't have. Lily does." With that statement, Mr. Evans face turned rapidly paler, till it was white. 

"You don't mean. Not possible! We took measures, so many of them! But. How?" he asked, finally accepting the inevitable. "I don't know, Edward. I…I think that we've been found out." 

"We'll get through this. Together. For better, or worse, but together."

  
******

"Hurry up!" yelled a red-headed five-year-old. "Remus-slow-poke!" 

"You're going to fast! Slow down!" yelled a sandy-haired boy that looked to be about seven. 

"Lil-lee! You know it's the day before…before." the little boy swallowed anxiously. 

"Oops! Sorry, Remi! I forgot. Do you need to go home?" asked Lily Azalea Evans, for indeed, that's who it was. She looked at the boy worriedly, her brilliant green-eyes shining compassionately. 

"No, I'm alright. Let's go to the creek!" 

"Okay!" And hand-in-hand, they walked east through the woods. 

"Let's jump in!" yelled Remus, already half-way in. Lily quickly followed, landing on top of Remus. Soon, a splashing war began. 

"Ya! Take that, Lupin!" 

"Ar! That'll teach you, Evans! Hey! Where'd you go?!" yelled Remus, looking around, bewildered. 

**Splash! **

"Got you!" shouted Lily happily. This started a game of water hide-and -go-seek. As Remus hid behind the branches of a weeping willow, he noticed that the sky was getting darker. 

_Oh well, he thought, I should get Lily  home. The moon will be out soon. _

"Lily! We should be going!" he yelled. "The moon!" 

"Of course! Let's go!" she said, coming up behind him. Taking his hand, they started walking home. Soon they were at the edge of the woods again. Remus saw something that made his heart stop. The moon! 

"Lily! Lily! Run!" he shouted. But it was too late. He could already feel himself changing. He let out a moan of agony.

Lily's eyes widened. She knew the danger she was in, but all she could think about was her friend. She had never known it was that painful. She watched as his form shifted, giving one last shuddering moan before turning completely into a wolf. 

_…want blood…. The wolf lunged at Lily. __The human…right in front of me…good… His animal mind looked over the trembling girl. She was small, and wouldn't be able to run as fast. Plus, she was convenient. However, there was something strange about her. _

_Bite, now!, his wolf side commanded.  Remus tried desperately to control his instincts, but to no avail. He was fighting a losing battle._

"Stop!" Lily cried in horror. "Oh, please, Remi, stop!" 

The wolf paused. _What? Remi? He slowly sat down, confused and angry, unsure of who he really was__. Girl   not girl! Deceived!, the wolf thought. He lunged again, meaning to bite her just for the inconvenience. _

"Please! STOP! Remi, please!" she cried again. The wolf slowly stopped. 

_Wait. Not really…don't want…stop... I…I…I… The wolf's head suddenly raised up to the moon and he moaned, though it sounded like he was in pain. Suddenly, Remus was in control of himself again. _

_Wow, he thought. _The full moon really is beautiful, just like Mother told me. I wish I could see it as me, though_. _

"Remi?" asked Lily softly, as if unsure of herself. In response, the wolf nuzzled her hand. Tentatively, she reached a hand out and stroked the wolf's fur. Lily told herself to breath deeply.  _In and out,_ she thought.  Slowly she said, "I'm with you, Remi, I'm with you."


	2. Can I fly?

"Girl! Hurry up!" yelled Joren Snape. 

"I'm coming, Uncle!" a voice called back. Soon a girl of about seven appeared. 

"Well? What took you so long?" snapped Uncle Joren. "Some very important people are coming over. The house MUST be spotless." 

Sometimes the red-headed girl wondered why the house must be spotless if Uncle Joren couldn't even wash his hair! But still she replied, "Yes, Uncle. It will be." 

"It better be, girl! These people are important, and I can't afford to get on their bad side! Well! What are you waiting for! Get moving! And dinner better not be burned!" The girl sighed resignedly and started to dust the house. Though it was big, long years of neglect had robbed it of its grandeur. Also, though the Snapes had once been a very rich, high family, the current Mr. Snape had lost the family fortune and respect in a gamble. 

The girl knew this, but she didn't know what exactly had happened. _I will find out exactly what happened, she vowed. As the girl moved onto mopping, a figure watched her from the shadows of the staircase. _

Severus Snape was nine years old. _I don't understand, he thought worriedly to himself__. Father treats her worse than me. I don't get it. Isn't Lily supposed to be my cousin, and family? She's come here in the summer for two years now. _

Down below, Lily finished mopping. She sighed. _Well, that's finished now. Time to start dinner. _

Once, not so long ago, the Snapes had multiple house-elves. However, when the family lost its money, the house-elves were sold also. 

Lily opened the door to the kitchen. Uncle said to make a three-course meal. _I wonder who these people are. Lily started preparing the meal. Lily loved cooking, and was quite good at it. This was due to the fact that her mother had taught her, which was good since her uncle always made her cook. _

Another thing Lily loved was reading and school. She loved to be immersed in a good book, especially ones with magic. It was a dream come true for her to be able to come to her Uncle Snape's house in the summer, even though he worked her hard and- 

"Girl! They'll be here in one hour! You must present a good picture! Hurry up. Get ready, and make sure that dinner doesn't burn!" _Well, speak of the devil! Lily thought. __I think about him and he calls! _

"Yes, Uncle!" she yelled back. "I'll be ready!" Lily hurriedly stirred the soup one last time before dashing off to get dressed. 

*** 

**Ding-dong. When the doorbell rang Lily was in the kitchen making last minute adjustments to dinner. She rushed to open the door. **

"Hello, I'm Lily Evans. Come in. Can I get you something to drink?" she asked the guests. She ushered them into the house. There were three. _From what Uncle was saying, I thought there were going to be a lot more guests! Maybe more people are coming, she thought. _

Sure enough, the doorbell rang yet again. Once again, she opened the door. "Hello, I'm Lily. Lily Evans. Please come in, can I get you something to drink? Some other guests have already arrived, they're right this way in the parlor." 

Lily led these guests into the house. 

"Hello, Lily. We're the Black's. I'm Orion, this is my wife, Adelaide, and our son Sirius," the man replied. He had black hair, and inviting blue eyes. Lily was startled. She wasn't used to adult wizards speaking to her so politely. 

"Hiya! Since we are neighbors, we can play sometimes!" the boy said. He had black hair and blue eyes, just like his father. 

"I don't think so, but thank you for the offer. Please, the parlor is this way," Lily replied softly. She knew her uncle would never let her out to play with someone. Sadly, she led the way to the parlor. 

When they arrived, she was surprised to see the contempt on the face of Mr. Black. It was obvious that he didn't like the other guests, whomever they were. 

"Orion. Fancy meeting you here," said the other man. He was a pale man, with blond hair and icy blue eyes that held none of the warmth that Sirius's and Mr. Black's did. 

"Draco. How are you?" Mr. Black replied, evenly. He turned to the man's wife and boy.  "Hello, Greta, Lucius." 

While this was taking place, Sirius and the other boy exchanged greetings as well. The other boy looked exactly like his father, with his mother's cold gray eyes_. Well, it looks as if Sirius is a lot nicer. I wonder why the two families don't like each other, Lily thought. _One more thing to find out!__

"Malfoy," Sirius said quietly. 

"Black," replied the other boy, whom Lily thought to be Lucius Malfoy. _Even his name sounds mean, just like the rest of him, she thought. _

Unfortunately, Lily then had to go to the kitchens to make sure dinner was not burning, so she didn't hear the rest of the conversation. As she stirred the sauce, she wondered what Remus was doing at the moment. She saw him during the whole year, though not a lot because of school. There were only two bad things about coming to Uncle Joren's over the summer. Not seeing Remi was the first. The second was- 

"Hi! Whatcha doin?" asked a voice behind her. Turning around quickly, Lily saw that it was Sirius. 

"You startled me! You aren't supposed to be here!" Lily said. If her uncle found out, she would be in big trouble. 

"Aww, come on. It won't hurt anyone, will it?" wheedled Sirius. "We can go play out back!" 

"I don't think so. I have to watch the dinner!" Lily replied. _Uncle Joren would skin me if he found out that I was running off to play while I was supposed to tend to dinner and the guests. I wouldn't let that happen, oh no! _

"Please? It'll be fun! Besides, you're tending the guests, right? And I'm a guest! So let's go outside and play! Put a timer on and you'll be back before your uncle ever knows!" 

_I doubt that Uncle Joren will hold with that logic, but it does work. I guess it couldn't hurt, as long as he doesn't find out. "Oh, alright. Come on then," she sighed. _

*** 

"Girl!" Uncle Joren came storming out of the house. _Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! Lily thought. __I'm so dead. Maybe not now, but later. I'm so dead. _

"Ah, young Mr. Black. I would suggest that you go inside, maybe have something to drink. Dinner is almost ready," Uncle Joren said oily. 

"Lily shouldn't get in trouble, sir. She didn't do anything. It was all me," said Sirius. 

"I know what happened, Mr. Black. Gir- ah, Lily. Get back to the guests. We'll talk later." That was all Lily heard. She trudged back into the house, hoping that Uncle Joren might forget about the whole thing. Not likely. As Lily served dinner, she felt detached. _Time has a disobliging habit of doing exactly the opposite of what you want it to do, she thought.  _I wanted it to slow down, and it speeds up.__

"Lily! Meet me at the old oak by the river," whispered Sirius, as Lily placed his plate in front of him. "I'll wait all night if I have to!" 

*** 

It was past ten when the last guest was out the door. It was past midnight when Lily got to the tree. Sirius was, to her surprise, still waiting. 

"I told you I'd be here!" said Sirius triumphantly. "Now sit down and we can talk. Why was your uncle so mad? And why did he sound like he had never said your name before?" Lily stayed standing. 

"I don't know what you're talking about. Mad? Just because I neglected the adults." 

"Sit. And don't lie. It's bad for you. Didn't you ever hear about Pinocchio?" asked Sirius, pulling her down. 

"Oh!" Lily couldn't help gasping in pain. 

"What? What is it?" demanded Sirius. 

"Nothing, nothing at all. You were saying about something about Pinocchio?" 

"So. How did you come to be here anyways?" asked Sirius. 

"You weren't here during the year, that much I know. Or the year before that." 

"I come here during the summers. When I was five, I showed signs of being a witch." 

*** 

After that incident with Remus, nothing changed…for a while. A few months later, Lily levitated up to the kitchen counter to get cookies. When her mother came in, somehow she didn't see Lily at all. Lily told Remus, and he was just as mystified as she was. He told her that it might be magic, but neither child really believed that. 

A few months after that, when both children had nearly forgotten about it, a strange man showed up at the Evan's house. 

"Lily! This is your Uncle Joren. He has some exciting news for you!" said her mother. 

"Hello, Lily. Do you remember a few months ago? You levitated up to get some cookies and then became invisible." Slowly Lily nodded yes. "Well, I have some great news for you! I think that you're a witch, like I'm a wizard. During summers, you can come live with me, and I'll teach you a little about magic. Your cousin, Severus, is also magical. What do you say? It's okay with your parents." 

"I think, I think that I'd like that," Lily replied slowly. "Will I be able to fly?" 

"With the help of a broomstick, yes." 

"Okay then!" said Lily happily. 

*** 

"That's about it," Lily finished. 

"Wow. Cool!" said Sirius. "Give a hug!" 

Reaching over, he hugged Lily tightly. She gasped. _If Sirius finds out, and goes to Uncle Joren about it, I'm dead! was her last thought before fading into blackness._


	3. Way to go, Lily

"Siri!" screamed an 11-year-old girl. "Guess what!" 

"What, Lily angel?" asked the 13-year-old boy. 

"I got in! I got in to Hogwarts!" shouted the red-headed girl happily. 

"Well, that's no surprise!" remarked the black-haired boy. "You knew you were magical!" 

"Yes! Wait until Mum and Dad hear. They will be so proud of me!" said Lily.

"Well, you go owl them and tell your uncle about your letter. I'm sure you can come to Diagon Alley with James and me. You know about James, James Potter, I've told you about him," said 'Siri', more commonly known as Sirius. 

"Okay!" shouted Lily happily, running off to do exactly that. Sirius also strode off, to find his parents and ask if Lily could come to get her school supplies with the them. 

*** 

A week later, Lily stared in wide-eyed wonder at the world that appeared before her eyes. Though she lived with her Uncle Joren in the summer, and he was a wizard, along with his son Snape, she was still a muggleborn girl who had never seen this many magical beings and things in one place. _Wow, I never knew that it was this huge! thought Lily. _

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cry of, "Sirius! Sirius! Over here!" 

Looking to see if she could find the owner of the voice calling her friend's name, she spotted a 13-year-old boy with a jungle of messy black hair, waving his arms up and down. 

"James! What took you so long? And be careful, your glasses are falling off!" shouted Sirius back to the boy, the infamous James Potter whom Lily had heard so much about. 

"And this is Lily, Lily Evans. She's my neighbor, you know, the one I told you about_." I hope Siri didn't tell him about- Lily's thoughts were cut short as James Potter greeted her. _

"Hallo, Lily. So you're the girl that loves playing pranks in people. Sirius talks about you, though he hardly ever mentions your name. Mostly your just, 'the girl next-door,' 'the-girl-I-was-telling-you-about,' or something similar," said James warmly. He held out a hand for her to shake. "Pleased to meet you." 

"Hallo, James. Siri talks about you quite a lot also. Judging from the fact that you sound quite like me and Siri, I would expect that I would rather not shake your hand until that buzzer is out of it," Lily replied. She could tell that she would like James, the little that she would see of him at Hogwarts, with him being a third-year and she a first. 

"Wow! You're right Sirius. A girl after our own hearts," said James. 

"Mind you don't corrupt little Lily, now," admonished Mrs. Black. That was one of the things that Lily hated about herself. She was very short. Many mistook her for seven or eight years of age when she was really eleven. It made for many people, especially Mrs. Black, telling others to watch out for her. Lily might have been small, but she could watch after herself quite well, thank you very much. 

"Aw, Mum. Shouldn't you be worried about sweet little Lily corrupting us?" asked Sirius. "She comes up with most of our mischief making ideas, anyways." 

"Yes, well, everyone needs school supplies, and the day's not getting longer. Let's get a move on, folks!" said Mr. Black. "How about we head first to the apothecary, then go from there? We can do Lily's wand last." 

Everyone agreed, and in short order they were all marching down Diagon Alley looking for school supplies. Lily found everything quite fascinating, and stared so hard she ran into Sirius, who was walking in front of her, twice. If Lily had thought the rest mesmerizing, then the wand shop was indescribable. Boxes and boxes sat in rows on the floors, in rows on the shelf's, and just about anywhere there was space. 

"Incredible, huh, Lil?" asked Sirius. 

"Hello! If it isn't young Mr. Potter and Mr. Black. And Mr. And Mrs. Potter and Black! How nice to see you. But where are the Lupin's?" greeted an old man. _Lupin? As in Remi? thought Lily. __No, It couldn't be. He's not magical, that I know of. Must be a coincidence. Lily started when she realized that the old man was talking to her. _

"And you're a first-year? Muggleborn? We don't get many of those." 

"Yes, sir. I'm Lily Evans," Lily said quietly. 

"Which is your wand arm?" asked Mr. Olivander. 

"Er- well, I'm right-handed," said Lily. 

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Lily from shoulder to finger, knee to armpit and round her head. As he measured, he said, "Every Olivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Ms. Evans. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Olivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you'll never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Lily suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between her nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Olivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. 

"That will do," he said and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Ms. Evans. Try this one, redwood and dragon heartstring." 

Lily, having already been briefed on what to do by Sirius and James, waved the wand. Nothing happened. She tried wand after wand, until it seemed like she had gone through the whole store. 

"I wonder," said Mr. Olivander. "Try this one. Willow, ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, containing two hairs from a unicorn. Nice wand for charm work." 

Lily took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand and flicked it, shooting an array of red and gold animals through the dusty shop. Everyone clapped. _Finally! Lily thought. _

"Bravo! Well done indeed. Here, let me wrap it up for you," cried Mr. Olivander. 

*** 

Lily woke the morning of the first like any other day, yet it was in fact a very special day. She was back at home, so she could see her parents before she left for school. They were all so proud of her being a witch and getting into Hogwarts. All but her sister, Petunia, but Pet had never been on good terms with Lily in the first place. _It really isn't that great a loss, reflected Lily. __I never liked her anyways. _

Lily dressed and crept downstairs, so that she wouldn't wake her sister who wasn't coming to the station to see Lily off. She decided to watch TV until breakfast, as she had been packed for a week already. 

"Lily! What would you like for breakfast, honey?" asked her mother, coming down the stairs. 

"Er, can we have flapjacks?" asked Lily hopefully. Flapjacks were her absolute favorite breakfast. 

"Of course. Let me get them started," replied her mother with a proud smile. By the time breakfast was done, Lily's father was downstairs too. The breakfast table was filled with happy chatter about Hogwarts, and quite a few tears already on Mrs. Evans's part, to which Lily replied, "Mum! I'm not gone yet!" 

They got to the station on time. It was filled with the usual hustle and bustle of the start of term, for many boarding schools started. "Lily? It says on your ticket Platform nine and three-quarters. I don't see it," asked Mr. Evans, worriedly. 

"Don't worry, Dad. I just walk through the barrier between nine and ten," reassured Lily, who had made sure to get that information from Sirius upon seeing her ticket. "It's getting late. I'd better go." 

"Oh, Lily!" cried her mother, bursting in to tears. "Write every day, and be good, and remember to get all your work done, and please write! And don't forget where you put your new underwear!" 

"Mum! I'll write, and you've only told me the rest a million times! Bye!" Lily ran through the barrier separating the two worlds. 

"Lily! Over here!" cried a voice she knew all too well. 

"I'm coming, Sirius!" she called back. Lily hurried over to him. 

"The others are saving us a compartment. Come on!" he said, running onto the train. Lily followed him. Sirius stopped at the very last compartment, and said grandly, "Malfoy sleeps with a pink bunny rabbit." 

The compartment door slid open, and Lily realized it was some sort of password. "Lily, this is James, whom you've already met, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin." 

"Remus! You never told me you came to Hogwarts!" Lily exclaimed, throwing herself at him in a big bear hug. She hadn't seen him since Christmas. He was at James's house when she was home for the tail-end of summer. 

"I could say the same for you, Lilycake. You didn't tell me either," Remus replied warmly. 

"I just found out, and besides, you've known for a lot longer than I have!" 

"She's got you there, buddy," said James. 

"You know each other? Why didn't you say something?" asked Sirius, astonished. 

"I didn't know that you knew Remus Lupin," said Lily. 

"And I thought that Lily was another Lily," said Remus. 

"Well, then. Let's plan our first prank of the year!" said Sirius. 

*** 

When the train arrived at Hogwarts, Lily was scared to death at the fact that she had to leave Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter to go across the lake alone. It wasn't that bad, though, because she met a few nice girls that were in her year. When they were finally across the lake, a stern looking lady opened the door. 

"First-years, follow me." She led the way to a small, empty chamber of the hall. "Welcome to Hogwarts," said the professor. "I am Professor McGonagall. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your houses will be something like your family. You will have classes with your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free-time in your house common room. 

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has it's own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. 

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I'll return when we are ready for you," she finished with a stern look. "Please wait quietly." 

She left the chamber, and it seemed to Lily as if she had just walked out and back in again. "Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned. 

"Now form a line and follow me." Lily hardly noticed the Great Hall at all, she was to busy looking around for James, Siri, and Remi. She did notice Professor McGonagall place a four-legged stool down and a pointed, dirty wizard's hat on top. The hat twitched, and began to sing: 

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, 

But don't judge on what you see. 

I'll eat myself if you can find 

A smarter hat than me. 

You can keep your bowlers black, 

Your tophats sleek and tall, 

For I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat, 

And I can cap them all. 

There's nothing hidden in your head 

The sorting hat can't see, 

So try me on and I will tell you 

Where you ought to be. 

You might belong in Gryffindor, 

Where dwell the brave at heart. 

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry, 

Set Gryffindors apart. 

You might belong in Hufflepuff, 

Where they are just and loyal. 

Those Hufflepuffs are true, 

And unafraid of toil. 

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, 

If you've a ready mind. 

Where those of wit and learning, 

Will always find their kind. 

Or perhaps in Slytherin, 

You'll make your true friends. 

Those cunning folk use any means 

To achieve their ends, 

So put me on! 

Don't be afraid! And don't get in a flap! 

You're in safe hands (though I have none) 

For I'm a thinking cap! 

Then Professor McGonagall began to call out names alphabetically. Unluckily for Lily, there were only 5 people before her. Abbot, Hans and Bones, Benjamin, were sorted into Hufflepuff. Calstrid, Genna, was a Ravenclaw. Cwertin, Martin, and Dratghin, Nora, both became Slytherin. 

Then it was Lily's turn. 

"Hmmm, good mind, very good mind. One of the best I've seen in years. You're a very loyal person, too. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, so far. You're muggleborn? Don't get many of those. Well, you show outstanding courage, so I think it better be GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted the last out to the whole school. 

Lily could see the "Marauders" grinning happily. Sirius stood up and shouted, "Welcome to Gryffindor, the best house, Lily! Way to go!" Lily smiled and took a bow for Sirius. She ran over to the table, and sat between Sirius and Remus, where they made space for her. The sorting seemed to be over quickly, because Lily was helping set up a prank on the Slytherins. 

"Okay, wait for it, NOW!" Sirius said, grinning. Lily stood up and said, "Wow! Hogwarts seems so great, except for that table over there." She pointed to the Slytherins. "They're really scaring me! I mean, look at them! Dancing on the table as cross dressers! And now they appear to be doing the limbo, using a person!" The whole school cracked up, except the Slytherins, who seemed to be completely furious at being made to look like idiots. 

"As much as we enjoy pre-dinner entertainment, Sirius, James, Remus, Peter, and it appears, Ms. Evans, I will have to take 5 points from Gryffindor, and you each have a detention to be served tomorrow night," said the headmaster. "Let the feast begin." 

The food appeared before Lily's eyes. All kinds of food. She grabbed a platter and began filling her plate. By the time dinner was over, she felt as if she couldn't move one inch. But she had to. Groaning, she followed the rest of her year up too the dorms, not even noticing her surroundings. She was too tired. When they finally arrived at a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress, the prefect gave the password (Fried banana) and Lily went straight to bed, falling asleep the instant her head touched the pillow. 


	4. A Needle to a Match

                (A/N: Okay!  A few things.  I usually try not to do Author notes because it clutters the story.  Alright, my WONDERFUL beta-reader had a question on this chapter that you as a reader will also probably be wondering, so I'm answering it now.  Professor Flitwick is just short, for now.  He'll get, er…., shorter as the story goes on.  The other thing is that I'd really appreciate it if you took the time to review my story!  I do the thank you's for reviewers in a separate chapter, so don't think that I'm a totally ungrateful writer, because I'm very grateful!  Also, I realized that I for got a disclaimer.  So here it is: All characters and ideas that you recognize as JK's are hers, but anything original is mine!  I don't mind you borrowing anything, not that you'd really want to, but just ask before doing so.  All right!  On with the story!)

`"Good morning, class.  I am Professor McGonagall.  This class is very difficult, and I do not expect any of you to get it on your first try.  Now…" said the Professor at Lily's first ever class on magic.  McGonagall kept on about the theory, and Lily decided to try it.  After all, a needle to a match?  How hard could that be?  She waved her wand, and muttered the right words.  To her great surprise, her needle WAS a match, just like that.  With all the theory, Lily thought that it should have been more complicated!  All of a sudden, Professor McGonagall turned around.  "Somebody just tried that spell.  Who was it?" she asked softly.

                Slowly Lily spoke up.  "Professor, I didn't try.  I did it.  See?"  She proudly held up the matchstick.  The professor's eyes widened a bit.

                "Be that as it may, Ms. Evans, magic is not a toy.  So don't play around with it!  You could be seriously hurt!" McGonagall cried.  In a more subdued tone, she continued, "All the same, I'd like for you to try something for me.  Please try to turn the desk into a dustbin, the same way you did the needle to a matchstick."

                Lily waved her wand and muttered the incantation for a switching spell, the desk turned in to a dustbin, albeit a rather large one.

                "Amazing…" the professor murmured, staring at the dustbin. Then, as if snapping herself out of her trance, she said curtly, "Class dismissed."

                Next Lily went to Herbology, which she found dreadfully boring.  She decided to liven things up a bit.  Pulling out her wand, she whispered, "_Explodius_."  The puffer flower exploded, showering the students with green dye.  All except for Lily, standing far enough back to avoid the blow. 

                "Ms. Evans!  Were you in on this with the Marauders?  Doubtless you were the one with the timed charm, as you are the only one far enough away to escape the explosion!"  The professor was livid.

                Quickly deciding not to get her friends in trouble, Lily spoke up.  "Actually, Professor, I did it.  The charm was in one of my uncle's books."  That was the truth, the only thing she had learned from the Marauders, as they were called, was the part about the green dye.

                "Well!  Class dismissed, Ms. Evans, please stay behind to make arrangements for your detention!"

                After the detention was arranged, Lily headed for lunch in high spirits.  She would be able to see Sirius and Remus!  Plus James and Peter.  She hadn't seen them at breakfast because she had overslept and by the time she had reached the Great Hall for breakfast, they were already gone.

                "Hi Lilyangel!  How are you?" asked Sirius cheerfully, motioning for her to sit down with one hand and with the other shoving a buttered roll into his mouth.

                "Hi," she said to the band of Marauders who were all currently filling their mouths with food in a fury that both amazed and scared her. "You have quite the reputation.  In Herbology, I 'accidentally' said an exploding charm with my wand pointed at one of the puffer flowers.  The prof thought you had given me a timed charm!  And I got detention, so I'm gonna beat Sirius's detention record this year!" Lily said, sitting down.

                "Wow!  You know how to do exploding charms already?  That's not till 2nd year!" exclaimed Peter.

                "And you still can't do one, Petey!" said James with a laugh.

                "Two things.  One, don't call me Petey!  Two, I can to do the charm!" 'Petey' said indignantly.

                "Of course you can, Peter.  James is just teasing," placated Remus.  "What classes do you have after lunch, Lily?"

                "I have Charms, then Defence against the Dark Arts.  Charms sounds so fun!" Lily replied.

                "Fun!  Classes are never fun, Lils.  You should have known that!  Sirius!  Didn't you teach her anything?"  James asked.

                "Oh, be quiet.  Charms can be fun if I say it is!" Lily replied.

                "Whatever you say, Lilyangel. Whatever you say," said Sirius teasingly.

                "Thank you, Siri, I'll keep that in mind," Lily replied.

                "Siri?" Peter hooted.  "_Siri?" _

                "Shut up, Petey," 'Siri' said huffily.

                "Sirius?  You have to admit that Siri is kind of funny," Remus pointed out sensibly.  "And Peter, you have to realize that you both have embarrassing nicknames."

                "And you, Remi, have to realize that you do too!" said Lily.  "I believe that we all have nicknames.  We just have to live with them!"

                "Remi!!!" whooped the other Marauders.  "Now you can't talk, either, Remi!"

                _Bong-bong-bong. The bell sounded, cutting short the conversation on nicknames. _

                "We better go!  See you later, Lilyflower!" yelled James, as they were running out the doors.  "Can't be late for Defence!"

                Lily walked quickly to Charms.  _I hope I'm good at Charms, it sounds so fun! she__ thought.  Lily was so engrossed in thought that she accidentally walked right into a wall!  But to her surprise, it wasn't a wall, but a secret passage way. __Might as well follow it!_

                To Lily's ultimate surprise, the passage came out right next to what looked to be the Charms classroom.  Hesitantly, Lily stepped through the doorway.  "Excuse me, but is this the Charms room?" she asked of the room's only occupant, a short old man. _ I shouldn't call him short.  After all, he's taller than I am by a good few inches, but most of his older students must be taller than him!_

                "Oh!  Yes, it is!  You must be one of my first year students!  I'm Professor Flitwick.  I hadn't expected anyone to be so early, what with getting lost and all figured in!" Professor Flitwick said, in a high, squeaky voice.

                "I used a passage on the second floor, it led right to outside your door," Lily explained.  "I'm sorry if I'm early.  Maybe I should wait outside?"

                "No, no.  Sit down, everyone else should be arriving shortly," he said.

                Sure enough, soon the rest of her year began to filter in.  When everyone was there, Professor Flitwick took roll call.

                "Now, this is Charms.  Today, as your first lesson, you will be learning the floating charm. Please attend…"Professor Flitwick said.  "Please hold your wand like so, and swish and flick!  That's it, Lily, good.  Now, the incantation is _Wingardium Leviosa_.   Come up, get a feather, and try it."

                Lily walked up, got a feather, and sat back down.  "_Wingardium Leviosa_," she said, swishing and flicking her wand.  Her feather rose and floated about the ceiling.  Remembering a charm she had read about in her books that moved an object, she decided to try it on her feather.  "_Mobilius Wingardium," Lily whispered.  Her feather went floating about the room wherever Lily pointed her wand._

                "Look here!  Ms. Evans has not only levitated her feather, she has applied the charm in her book to move the feather! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

                On her way to Defence, Lily thought about her day so far.  _All in all, not bad.  I'm keeping up in all my classes, and they are all relatively easy.  I wonder how Defence will be?_

                Defence turned out to be just as easy as all the other classes.  The teacher, Professor Guranty, was teaching the five basic Defence spells.  Then he asked for a volunteer, to demonstrate the spells.  Lily raised her hand.  All of the spells were very easy, so she didn't have any trouble at all.  The rest of the class was spent doing the spells on a mannequin.

                Dinner was basically the same as lunch, but Lily was too tired to do anything but listen to the Marauders discuss the best plans for a prank on Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's new cat.  There seemed to be a disagreement on purple or green fur.

                Lily also caught snatches of the conversation at the teachers' table.  "Albus, I've never seen anything like it!"

                "I agree!  Some third-years couldn't do it!"

                "-Amazing, really."

                "-Don't know how-"

                Just then James reached over to tap Lily on the shoulder.  "Pst!  Lily!  Don't you want desert?"  Looking up, Lily was startled that the desert, peach cobbler, was already on the table.

                "Of course.  Pass it here, please," she responded.

***

                "Okay, so we all know our places?" whispered Remus.

                "Yes, now break!" Sirius whispered back.

                "Wait for it…now!" whispered James.  And chaos broke loose, as nineteen pixies were let into the transfiguration classroom.

                "**_Silence!" shouted Professor McGonagall.  She froze all the pixies with a freezing charm.  "Potter! Black! Lupin! Pettigrew! Detention!  Now, I want to introduce you to a new member of your year.  She has been skipped up to your year, because it is felt that she will do better here than where she was.  Please help her to feel at home.  Class, this is Miss Lily Evans."_**

                "Wahoo!  Go, Lily!  Come sit here, with us.  Your small enough to fit," shouted Sirius.

                "Yeah, come on, Lilycake.  Sit with us?" Remus pleaded.

                "I was planning on it before you said anything, you oafs," Lily laughed, walking over to them.

                "Now that that is settled, can we move on to the lesson?" asked Professor McGonagall. 

                "Sure, Minnie!" replied Sirius.  "Where were we?"

                "Mr. Black!  Now, today we'll be learning how to do these cockatoos into ants.  It is very difficult, and I don't expect any of you to get it on the first try.  Now, the theory…"

                By the time they were actually allowed to try, Lily felt like she knew more about the theory than the witch or wizard who made up the spell!  Nevertheless, she tapped the cockatoo and whispered the incantation.  It didn't change.  Lily frowned, and looked at the book. She tried it again, and again.  She finally got it on her fourth try.  Looking around, she saw that James had just gotten it also, followed closely by Remus, them Sirius.  Peter was nowhere close.

_                "Oh my!  Look here, Miss Evans and Mr.s  Potter, Lupin, and Black have gotten it!  Twenty-five points to Gryffindor!"_

                After Transfiguration, the Marauders and Lily headed to Potions.

                "Watch out, we have this one with the Slytherins.  Your cousin and his gang are the worst, next to Malfoy and his gang.  We don't like them very much," said Sirius, as they were walking along the corridor.  "This way."

                Sirius seemingly disappeared into the wall, and Lily realized that it was another secret passage way.  "I found one of these yesterday on my way to Charms.  It led from the second floor to the wall outside the Charms room," Lily remarked.  "Are there a lot of these around?"

                "Tons, Lily, tons.  You wouldn't believe," said James with a smirk.


	5. Author's NoteThank yous

Hey! I'm really sorry, but this is not a new chapter. This is just to inform everyone that I will not be able to update for a bit. Sorry! And thanks to those little number of people that did review. HINT HINT! I WANT more reviews, please!

Lady Arabella Sedai: Hey Bella! What's UP! Hehe! TTYL! And yes, Tamora Pierce. Hehe. And I know it doesn't sing the same song twice, but give nme a break. If I had tried to make a song, nobody would read it and it would be VERY BAD!

Ash: Thanks!

White Ivy: I will try to write more! I'm nearly done with the next chapter, so then I need to get my wonderful bet-reader Drowning Goldfish to do her stuff, then revise and post! So I'll do that ASAP.

Drowning Goldfish: To get the paragraphs to work? Er….We were trying so hard, and it comes down to my stupidity. I forgot to save in HTML. Stupid me. Who will play Dumbledore? Who knows? Muggle minds work in strange ways!


	6. Colour Boy

A/N: Please, please review.  Reviews are good!  Very good!  And I like them a lot, so please do review!  I'm sorry this chapter is so late!  I really am!

                The whole class looked up as five unlucky students ran into Potions class, late.  Professor Iniquitas glared at them.  "What do you think you're playing at, coming into my class late?" he said softly.  "Do you really not care that you are failing my class?"  
                "No, sir, we care!  We just think that it isn't worth bothering, since we'll fail either way!" said Sirius cheerfully.

                "Sorry we're late, sir," muttered a voice from behind Lily.  She turned around.  It was her cousin, Snape!

                "Quite all right, Mr. Snape.  Sit down," Professor Iniquitas said, amiably.  Snapping back to the Marauders, he seemed to notice Lily for the first time.  "And may I ask who you are?"

                "I'm Lily Evans, sir.  We are sorry we're late," Lily replied.  She really didn't like this professor.  He was very unfair.

                "Well, Ms. Evans, as this is only your second day in the castle, it is quite understandable to be late.  Please take a seat, and don't let it happen again," Professor Iniquitas's voice was oily.  "Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, detention." 

                Sirius gaped openly.  So did James, Remus, and nearly the whole class.  Only Malfoy, Snape, and their group looked as if they didn't notice a thing.  Lily also was oblivious.

                "What is it, Siri?" Lily whispered once the class had settled down.

                "Professor Iniquitas is _never that understanding to a Gryffindor!  Especially not one that comes in with us!" Sirius whispered back, obviously still confuzzled about the whole deal._

                "Maybe it's just because it's my second day here," Lily speculated.

                Sirius shook his head.  "No, I really don't think so.  On our first Potions class, we got detention and 50 points off Gryffindor for being late.  To top that off, I don't think we really were late.  We were the second people to arrive!"

                "Now, I hope that you will all be able to make a simple wiggenweld potion.  _If you have been listening, it should be quite simple.  Well!  Get to work!" the Professor shouted the last bit._

                Lily frantically flipped through her book to find the right page, while Sirius, who was her partner, got out the cauldron.

                "Okay, it says that we'll need a dash of powdered unicorn hair, a jot of wolfsbane, and…" Lily listed the ingredients while Sirius got them out.

                Finally they were ready to start making the potion.  Unfortunately, Sirius was markedly bad with anything that was even closely related to cooking, so it was a real miracle that their potion turned out all right.  Sirius suspected that if it hadn't been for Lily, who was an amazing cook, the whole thing would have blown up in his face.

                When finally the Potions class was over, the crew headed to lunch.  They took a total of 3 secret passages, and went through 5 doors that Lily suspected were shortcuts.  Not to mention going through tapestries.

                Lunch was a noisy affair, made louder by the fact that James just happened to have some Filibuster fireworks in his pocket, which he set off at the Slytherins table.  _Was it just luck that they happened to go off right under Snape and Malfoy? Lily wondered.  She thought it was better not to know._

                "Potter!  Black!  Lupin! Pettigrew! Detention!" yelled McGonagall.

                "Actually, Minnie, it was all me!" James shouted back.

                "Potter!  Detention!  And 5 points of Gryffindor for insolence!" Professor McGonagall screamed, her face turning purple with rage.

                "Okay, Minnie!" James shouted back.  "Nice look!  Purple really suits you!"

                "Your fighting a losing battle," Professor Dumbledore whispered to "Minnie."

***

                After lunch was Care of Magical Creatures.  That, in Lily's opinion, was a pretty boring class.  They were taking care of flobberworms, which didn't do anything and were classified as boring in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  The teacher, Professor Kettleburn, was missing an arm and two fingers!  Also, Remus swiped some of the lettuce for another prank, which the boys promised to fill her in on during History of Magic, their next class.

                A ghost taught history of Magic.  It was probably the only class taught by a ghost that Lily would ever take, so she thought she better attend well.  However, it was a flop out.  _Who cares about a  Goblin called Hagar the Horrible? Lily wondered.  Even so, she paid attention and took notes.  It took her by surprise when a piece of parchment came flying form nowhere and hit her in the head.  Lily carefully opened it._

_                Hello my little flower!  It is I, the colour man!  As we are all quite bored, I am sure you are too.  Also, I am sure you might have noticed we have this class with the Slytherins.  And, Binns never pays attention to us anyways.  We, the marvellous Marauders, have decided that this class needs spicing up.  Given the above two items, I am sure you know what we plan.  Any ideas?_

                Lily stifled a chuckle.  The whole note was Sirius through and through, though no one would ever be able to prove it.  Just as no one would be able to prove that the note was to her.  She turned the parchment over and wrote back.

                _Colour boy~_

_                                As much as I would love to assist you, I'm afraid that there might not be enough time left_

_in this class.  But, maybe next time we could do something with a bouncing ferret named Malfoy?  _

_Just a thought.  As a "newbie" to this little groupie, am I, in fact, another Marauder or am I just a _

_mere acquaintance?  It would be helpful to know.  As you know, one Marauder must not pull a_

_prank on another, and I had the most wonderful idea for Remus._

_                                                Flower_

                Lily then threw the piece of parchment back at Sirius.  It hit him on the head, which was surprising, because Lily was absolutely awful at aiming.  Sirius picked it up, opened it, and read it.  He grinned evilly.  "Colour boy" paused for a moment, then picking up his quill, tried vainly to write a response for nearly a minute.  He finally realized he was trying to write with a sugar quill!  So Sirius picked up his _real quill.  He scratched his head, then wrote something down.  Taking careful aim, he threw it at Lily's desk.  Being a star quidditch player, it, of course, landed right on target.  Lily unfolded the note._

                _Hey!  We still have another… minute.  Okay, I concede.  What about Divination first thing tomorrow morning?_

_                                                Colour boy_

                Just then the bell rang, leaving Lily no time to write a response.  She tucked the note in her bag, and followed the boys out of the classroom to dinner.

***

                "Oh!" Professor Trelawney gasped the next morning in Divination.  "My dear, I fear that you are going to die a painful, excruciating death early in life!  Oh!  This is so tragic!"

                Lily snorted.  "The only thing she should fear," she whispered to James, "is that we are going to prank her mercilessly today!  Wonder if she sees that coming."

                "Probably not.  My sister Harriet says that Trelawney is a fake.  But, this is our first class with her, so let's be fair.  Oh, and to pass this class, all you have to do is predict bad things.  Trelawney soaks up misery," James whispered back.

                "Class, please get a tea cup.  And dear, after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to get one of the blue?  I'm rather attached to the pink," Trelawney said in her misty voice, addressing the last bit to Peter.

                Sure enough, as soon as Peter reached the shelves, there was the tinkling of broken glass.  Professor Trelawney swept over, saying, "One of the blue, then, if you don't mind."

                Once Lily and James were safely at their seats, they burst out laughing.  Unfortunately for them, Professor Trelawney heard and swept over.

                "May I ask what is so amusing?" she asked frostily, quite a change from her earlier voice.

                "Oh, Professor!" Lily exclaimed.  "We weren't laughing!  James's cup!  It…. it…it has the Grim!"

                "Oh!  You poor, poor child!  I see now, of course.  May I say that you have a great talent for this?  Your Inner Eye is astonishing for one so young, Ms.?"

                "Evans, Lily Evans.  Thank you, Professor!" Lily simpered.  She absolutely hated it, but figured it was her best chance out of detention.

                Just then, the bell rang.  "Oh!  Class dismissed!  Ms. Evans, would you please stay behind?" Professor Trelawney asked.

***

                After Divination was a free period for the Gryffindor third-years, so the Marauders waited for Lily outside the Divination classroom.

                "What'd she want?" Remus asked curiously.

                "She said, 'Ms. Evans, you have an amazing Inner Eye.  Would you like extra lessons to help train it up a bit?  I have no doubts that someday you will be as good as I!'" Lily replied with a grimace.

                "Inner Eye!" Sirius hooted.  "You couldn't tell a Grim from a squirrel!"

                "Could too!" Lily retorted.

                "Not!"

                "Too!  Grim's are black and ugly.  Squirrels are cute and cuddly!" Lily said.

                "Well!  I stand corrected!" Sirius replied.  "Grim- black and ugly.  Squirrel- cute and cuddly!  Yes, sir!" Sirius then saluted Lily, one hand in the air above his head, and one on his heart.  Lily burst out laughing.

                "That's not how you do it, smart one!" she said.

                "I don't care!" Sirius replied.

                "Fine!  I give up!" Lily said.

                "Good!" said Sirius.  "Now, since we didn't do that prank in Divination, what about Herbology this afternoon?"


	7. Tutela Iubar

A/N- Wow!  I'm getting faster at writing, so guys had _better_ get faster at reviewing!  Siriusly, though, I _need_ reviews!

                "Okay, so what is the lettuce for?" Lily asked the boys on the way to Herbology the next morning.  "You never filled me in on that.  And why do we have Herbology Mondays and Wednesday, when we really don't have it again until next _Tuesday!  I'm so confused. How does that work?"_

                "Well, the lettuce is for a little bunny named Crabbe, and his little bunny friend Goyle.  That gets them out of the way, so we can really nail Malfoy.  Our schedule is always screwed, but I think it's because we started school on Thursday.  So that means our regular schedule would be Herbology on Tuesdays only.  I think that's what it is, at least," Remus replied.

                "Okay.  I still think that it's a bit weird.  So, what are we going to do to Malfoy?  I met him before school, and if I recall correctly, I didn't care much for him or his family!" Lily remarked.

                "What?  When did you meet him?  And how?" asked James curiously.

                "Oh…nothing.  I just bumped into him at…er… Diagon Alley!  Yes, I met him at Diagon Alley," Lily replied nervously.  She didn't know why she was so nervous; it wasn't like anything would happen if they found out how she met Malfoy.  She just didn't want them to know about her uncle, and was afraid that Malfoy might lead to questions.

                "But Lils, you were at Diagon Alley with us!  And I know you hadn't been before, because you were wide-eyed with wonder!" James exclaimed suspiciously.

                "Well, we went again.  When I was at the Quidditch store, Lily was at the bookstore.  She probably met him then!" Sirius came to her rescue.  Lily shot him a grateful look.  He knew about her uncle, and that was already one person too many.

                "Alright, then," James said, obviously still suspicious.  He was prepared to drop it, but-

                "But if you went to Diagon Alley again, you would have told us!" Peter said.

                "Well, I don't write you a day-by-day on my life, okay, Peter?" Sirius snapped.

                "But, Sirius, you do!" supplied Remus.  "I get two or three letters a day from you in the summer!"

                Lily felt trapped.  She didn't know what to do.  Any more questions, and soon the truth would come out.  _Oh, oh!  Help!  Anyone! Lily wished she could just stop time-_

                **_Schlurp! Everyone stood still, frozen.  __Oh, oh!  Now what did I do? Lily thought.  "Oh!  Sirius!  Remus!  James! Peter!  Move, please move!  Talk to me!  Say something!" Lily was frantic._**

                **_Schlurp!__  Suddenly everyone was moving again and back on the same argument._**

                "Wait!  Oh, please, stop arguing.  I forgot one of my schoolbooks when we went, James, and I asked Siri not to tell because I thought you might laugh at me.  Just stop!  Please!" Lily cut in, thinking up a lie fast.  She had become quite good at this over the years.

                "Oh, Lily!  How could you think such a thing?  We would never laugh at you!" Remus said reproachfully.

                "I agree, Lily.  We would never laugh at you.  With you, certainly, but never at you!" James said.

                "That's what Sirius told me.  I didn't believe him.  I thought that you would laugh and not want to be friends anymore," Lily said, hanging her head.  Sirius stared at her in amazement; he had never seen her ability at dissembling.

                "Oh, Lily," James replied, wrapping his arm comfortingly around her shoulder as they continued down the hall. 

***

                That night at dinner, Dumbledore stood up and made an announcement.  It was the only time in memory that he had done so when it was not a feast, and the students whispered excitedly.  He cleared his throat.  It took a few minutes for silence to set in.

                "May I please see Mr.s Lupin, Black, Pettigrew, and Potter, along with Miss Evans in my office after dinner?" he said, and then sat back down again.  The hall broke out in whispers.

                "-trouble, definitely!"

                "Oh, they're gonna get it-"

                "-wonder what-"

                Lily stared at her friends in consternation.   _I wonder what's going to happen to us? __Why are we in trouble?  What did I do?  What if it has something to do with that time-freezing issue?  I didn't know!  Dinner passed quickly, and after what seemed like minutes to Lily (but was actually 45 minutes) she found herself in Dumbledore's office.  Any other time she would have admired it; the office was spectacular, but   
Lily found that she couldn't just look around when she could be getting suspended or expelled!_

                "Ah, the famous, or should I say infamous, Marauders.  And Miss Evans, an unusual addition to your group, to say the least.  I will speak to each of you individually.  No, you are not in trouble," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes.  "Mr. Black first, please."

                Lily trudged to the entrance of Dumbledore office with James, Remus, and Peter.

                "Wonder what he wants?" contemplated Remus.

                "At least we're not in trouble, yet!" James remarked.

                "We could be, you never know!" squeaked Peter.

                Lily was the only one silent.  The others caught on to her mood, and silence draped the hall like a gloomy day.

                "He wants to see you next, Lilycake.  Don't be frightened, we aren't in trouble for once!" Sirius said, coming out of Dumbledore's office wearing a silly grin.

                Lily hesitantly walked up to Dumbledore's office.  She felt very, very nervous.  _Not even here a week and I'm called to the Headmaster's office!_

                "Ah, Ms. Evans.  I'm sure that you are wondering why you have been called.  I will try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities.  Now, as to the reason you've been called.  Earlier today, I sensed a, how shall I put this, distortion in time.  Now, I knew that either you or one of your friends had done it as soon as I saw the aura in the Great Hall.  When you were all here in my office, I still wasn't sure.  But now that I can see you, and only you, I know for certain who is responsible.  Now, do you know what you did?"

                Lily swallowed anxiously.  "I…I think that I stopped time, sir.  I really didn't mean to!  It was an accident!  I swear, I didn't mean to!"

                "Of course you didn't, Lily," Albus Dumbledore said with a warm smile, his eyes still twinkling in amusement.

                "Sir, if you don't mind me asking?"

                "Yes, Lily?"

                "What does this mean?  Why is it so important?"

                "Ah, yes.  I was getting to that.  Well, what it means is that you, Lily, are a Tutela Iubar, or Guardian of Light.  It was prophesied that in the time of the world's greatest need, the Tutela Iubar would be born to save the world.  The Guardian was prominent in the defeat of the Cimmerii, the people living in eternal darkness.  Ah, I can spend only a minute more with you.  I will answer your questions and explain more if you could come back tomorrow.  Same time, please.  I doubt your friends will think much on it.  Tell them I wanted to talk to you about Divination and your talent in the area, if they ask."

                "Okay, sir.  Thank you," Lily said numbly.  She couldn't save the world!  She wasn't cut out to be a saviour, or a hero, or a Tuteloo Edar or what ever you called it!

                "And kindly tell Mr. Lupin I will see him now," Professor Dumbledore said, standing.

                Lily couldn't remember walking out of Dumbledore's office, nor telling Remus to go see Dumbledore.  When the others asked her what Dumbledore had wanted with her, she answered without realising what she was saying.  Afterwards, Lily thought that she was very lucky she hadn't said something she shouldn't have!  In fact, she was so lost in thought she didn't even listen to what Dumbledore had wanted with the others, though she suspected that he hadn't really wanted anything special.

***

                The next morning, Lily woke up in the third-year dorm to find Cora positively in a rage.  Apparently, the Marauders had had to get her back for something she had said to Peter the day before.  Lily suspected that it was something about Peter liking sweets a little too much for his own good, though she said nothing.  Actually, Lily thought Cora to be quite nice.  When she got the whole story later on, it turned out that the only reason Peter and the others even knew about the comment was because they had been sneaking around with the Invisibility Cloak.  Since Cora had never meant for Peter to hear, Lily thought that the Marauders were being quite stupid to swear to 'hate that stupid prat of a girl forever.'  But being the good friend she was, Lily decided to support them even though she thought that _they were being the prats and felt more than a little hurt at not being included in the little escapade._

                She felt even more hurt when she discovered that the Marauders had left for breakfast without her.  Lily was, of course, a Gryffindor, and had quite a temper.  So, she decided to walk to breakfast with Cora and her friends.  However, Cora and her friends thought Lily to be 'positively adorable,' and tended to treat her more like a little doll than anything else.  _I suppose it's because I'm so short and young, Lily thought disconsolately.  __ The Marauders are much better company!_

                Fortunately for the sake of Lily's sanity (Cora and her friends started to really get on her nerves, with all their, "Your so cute, Lily," nonsense) Lily and the Marauders had made up by lunch.

                "Well, now what can we do to Cora?" asked Remus wickedly.

                "Nothing!" Lily cut in sharply from where she had been sitting down the table.  "Cora never did anything wrong, except-"

                "Nothing wrong?  She seriously insulted a Marauder!  That's wrong!" Sirius shouted.

                "_Except for being a girl, and gossiping with her friends!  All girls do that!" Lily shouted back._

                "Oh, so I suppose you think Peter's fat and ugly too!" yelled James.  
                "Cora never said that, and neither did I!  She merely said that Peter ate too much to be her type!  Never did I hear fat or ugly in that!" Lily yelled right back.

                "Guys!  _Guys!" Peter shouted.  "I didn't take offence, so you shouldn't either!"_

                James, Remus, and Sirius looked at him in shocked silence.

                "Thank you.  Now pass the butter, will you?" Lily asked, politely.

                James silently passed the butter.  Remus and Sirius simply sat in silence, while Peter ate.

                "Okay, now this is stupid!  I'm sorry for trying to make friends _other than guys, but a girl needs some girlfriends sometimes!  Okay?" Lily yelled._

                "Of course.  We never said you couldn't have other friends.  Where'd you get that idea from?" Sirius replied calmly, filling his plate.


	8. Thank you's

Thanks to all those _great, wonderful, smart, beautiful, amazing, astoundingly nice_ people who reviewed!  (I'm trying to subtly hint that I want more reviews because they motivate me!) HINT HINT!

Lady Arabella Sedai: Wow!  I do believe that you've reviewed every chapter!  Take a Twix!  I wonder….

Too Lazy To Log In/ Spider: I'm writing more now!  Awww!  Thanks!

Tiger Girl:  Lily's capabilities?  Well, you'll find out some of them in the next chapter!

Jordan: More is coming!  And as to why she didn't want anyone to know?  We'll see, won't we?

Drowning Goldfish:  Ahh!  **tilts head to side, squints**  I do see the resemblance!  Thank you!  Your making me fell all warm and fuzzy!  

Tearful Spider:  I love snow days!  I'm writing, really I am!

Kitty: What prank????Well, I explain more about the prank in Tutela Iubar, which is up already!  The prank really was more of a filler than anything else.  What happened to the potions prof? You'll see!  **evil laugh**

Punkkitten01: Yes, they really can be naive .  That was actually written from my own experience, and I felt pretty much the same way!  Oh, thanks!

The Infallible Teller: Wow!  I'm so flattered that you reviewed my little old story!  Your one of my favourite authors here, and when I saw your name as a review, I was really excited!  I'm even more excited because you like it!  WOW!  And yes, I know that it's hard to put in L/J sometimes.  I know that I'm not going to be able to put any in while yet because of the age issue!

Herm:  Hey!  I know!  I try my best, I really do!  Your review was really helpful, and I will try to change my story to make it better!

Fireangel: Once again, I have to apologize for that email thing!  I'm really sorry!  Thank you for the compliments!  Mmmmm!  I LOVE chocolate!


	9. Vindicatio, Intego, Reservo, Adiutor

A/N: Hey!  I'm really sorry for the delay.  It seems like a lot of authors are saying that now!  My excuse is probably just like every other that you've read: Christmas shopping and finals!  Oh, and what I want for Christmas are reviews!  Lots of nice reviews!  (**coughHINTcough**)  Well, enjoy!  And review!

The next night, Lily somehow found herself back in Dumbledore's office.  She had made it through the whole day without making too big of a fool of herself.  Lily had no clue how, though.  It seemed to her that the day had floated by without her ever really taking part in it.  She couldn't even remember what classes she had had that day!

                "Professor?" Lily asked timidly, raising a hand to knock on the door.

                "Come in, Miss Evans," a voice called from inside.

                Lily stepped into the office, now taking the time to look around and appreciate it.  On the walls were portraits of wizards and witches, all staring solemnly at her.  There was a staircase leading up to a second story, which was covered in bookcases.  But what really caught her eye was a magnificent bird.  It's red and gold plumage shone as brightly as the sun. The bird in itself was gorgeous, perfect in every way.

                "That is Fawkes.  Fawkes is a phoenix.  Beautiful, isn't he?" Professor Dumbledore's voice startled Lily out of her reverie.  "But you aren't here to discuss Fawkes, are you?  No, of course not.  As a Tutela Iubar, you have special powers.  The last was some 1,400 years ago, to protect the world against the evil of the Malus Conluvies, or People of Evil.  Because of that, there is not much known of your powers. You can travel time, sense lies, sense evil, and do magic without your wand.  Beyond that, we will have to discover.  It was said that the Tutela Iubar of the Cimmerii time, the first ever Tutela Iubar, was able to tell the future.  How true that is, we may never know.  What we do know, however, is that a time of great darkness is upon us.  You should begin training for Aurorship immediately.  I will make the arrangements.  Also, here is a book to help you train your powers.  You can train in the room behind the portrait of Jinglewort the Just.  The password is Fringle. If you have any questions, just write them in this book.  I will be able to read them in my copy and write you an answer.  I can also send you answers through it, so that nobody gets suspicious of your powers.  Until the time of darkness is upon us, your powers must stay hidden to avoid mass panic as long as possible.  Do you understand?"

                "Yes, sir," Lily said, nodding.

                "Well, then, you should be getting back to your common room before you are missed," Professor Dumbledore said, handing Lily two books.

                "Thank you," Lily replied, walking out the door.

***

                The next day was the day before the full moon.  This meant that while Remus was in the hospital, Lily could sneak away to her room to train.  Though she felt a little guilty about it, she realised that it was for the best.

                When Lily finally found Jinglewort the Just, gave him the password, and entered into the room, she had already wasted half an hour.  She hurriedly opened the red-covered book that read Tutela Iubar: The Story of My Life, by Genevieve Tristan, and found the chapter that read "Training to my full potential."  Lily decided to practice stopping time, and maybe if she got the hang of it, she could go back in time to visit Remus with the boys.  That way, they wouldn't be suspicious.

                Lily read how Genevieve (but just call me Gen) trained this ability.  _Close your eyes.  Imagine the room around you, frozen.  It might help to throw an object into the air and imagine it frozen in the air the first few time you do it._

                Lily threw a quill in the air, closed her eyes, and concentrated on time being frozen.  Nothing.  She tried again, and again.  Finally, she threw the quill up into the air, and instead of trying to freeze the object, she tried to imagine a hand underneath the feather, holding it in place, stopping its fall. It slowed for a minute, before finally stopping.  She unfroze time by imagining the hand moving aside to let the feather drop, and let out the breath she hadn't realised she had been holding. She smiled, and then began to concentrate on travelling through time.  After half an hour, Lily felt that she could try to go and stay with Remus for a while. 

_                Schlurp!  Lily felt the odd sensation of moving backwards and forwards at the same time, as well as left and right. When the sensation ended, it was once again light outside.  __Oh no!  I went too far back! Lily thought.  __Oh well.  I'll just practice other things for about an hour._

                The hour passed, and when it was finished, Lily could do a simple levitation charm without her wand, and felt quite proud of herself.  She hurried to the hospital wing, where she figured she could meet up with Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter.

                "Lily!  Where've you been?" asked James.

                "I forgot my quill in the dorm.  I went back to get it," Lily explained, not meeting his eyes.

                "Oh, I see," said Remus.

                "Well, now that we're here, we might as well do homework.  We have that Transfig. essay to do, you know," Lily said.

                "Homework!  But it's not due till after lunch tomorrow!" Sirius exclaimed.

                "My point exactly," Lily said dryly.

                "Yes!  So we do it during lunch tomorrow!" James said, banging his hand down on the bedside table for emphasis.

                "I see the point there," Lily said, with a smile.

                The rest of the time was spent thinking up new pranks on Avery, Lestrange, and Rosier.  Snape was left out when Lily requested it, knowing what would happen if she pranked him at school.  Remus, Peter, and James gave her odd looks, but acquiesced.

 ***

                When the guys were safely back in the Gryffindor common room, Lily went back to 'her' room.  When she opened the other book, she found a message from Professor Dumbledore.

_Miss Evans,_

_                Please be in this room at 9:00 tomorrow night.  The head of the Aurors, Mr. Beechman, would like to talk to you about training.  Also, please send me progress reports, so I can help you with anything you need help or advice about._

_                                                                Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I felt the time distortions this evening.  Your coming along nicely!_

                Lily wrote back to him, telling of what she did that night, and that she thought the time travel might be useful to stop her friends from getting suspicious that she wasn't around that often anymore in the evening.  She then went back to her dorm and fell into bed, exhausted.

***

                The next day started out like every other day.  The only thing that changed was the fact that Lily was scribbling madly during lunch instead of eating.  Oh, and Lily had her meeting with the Auror head, Mr. Beechman.

                "Hello, Miss. Evans.  I'm Mr. Beechman," said a man with a blue cloak the said Vindicatio, Intego, Reservo, Adiutor on it.

                "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Beechman.  Excuse me for asking, but what do the words on your cloak mean?" Lily replied politely.

                "Ah!  They are the levels of Aurors that we have.  Vindicatio is the highest, Adiutor the lowest.  They mean Defender, Protector, Saver, and Helper in Latin.  Discipulus are the Aurors in training.  It means Apprentice in Latin.  When you make Aurorship, you will start as an Adiutor and work your way up," Mr. Beechman responded.

                "So you really mean that I, an eleven year-old Muggle girl, can be an Auror?  Just like that?" Lily asked in disbelief.

                "No, not just like that.  It will take training, probably by night for you.  It will take dedication, and hard work.  Are you willing to work for it?"

                "Yes, I am.  I want to help against this great time of darkness that is supposedly descending as we speak."

                "Then come with me, and we can get started."  
***

                The Auror training program was not for pansies, as Lily soon discovered.  The first thing you were taught was to be on guard at all time, even when taking showers, or changing!  The rooms were automated to shoot various hexes and curses at the occupants, and you had to learn how to identify where they were by the whoosh of air. Also, your wand stayed in a special cubby outside these rooms, used only in duelling, magic, and defence courses.

                "If you get captured, you're not going to have your wand," explained Mr. Beechman.  "That's why we try to train our Aurors to function without them."

                The second thing in training was to take a shower and train.  Simple, right?  Not exactly.  Spells were shot at you all around, and the only reason only three hit home was because Lily was so short, and a lot of luck.  She emerged with green hair, with a yellow streak in it.  She was laughing uncontrollably.

                An Auror in training took the spells off for her.  He introduced himself as Frank Longbottom.  Frank then took her to the workout area, which was a huge obstacle course that you had to get through without magic.

                "Your wand is in a box at the end.  Pick it up and go through the next course.  I'll be waiting when you finish," Frank explained.

                Lily nodded resolutely and ran into the course.  _Kinda like the one at Muggle camp, Lily thought.  Suddenly she ran into a dragon!  __Except for the dragons!_

                She dodged around it.  The dragon flickered.  "Hey!  You're an illusion!"

_                The rest of the course wasn't so easy.  By the time she got out, Lily was panting hard, and had multiple little cuts and bruises.  She rested for a few minutes, then determinedly picked up her wand and half-ran, half-walked into the next course._

                That one wasn't a walk in the park either.  When Lily was finished, she had blood running down her face, her robes were torn, she had one arm too many, and her hair was green yet again.  That was in addition to the cuts and bruises from course 1.

                Sure enough, Frank was waiting outside.  "Ooh.  That looks like it hurts."  He healed her cuts and bruises and took of the extra arm.

                "Man!  Killer course," Lily said wheezing.

                "You did better than most.  The average person doesn't make it out on their first try!" Frank said, encouragingly.

                "Thanks."

***

                "Well, Ms. Evans, you have what it takes to be an Auror.  Congratulations.  Not many make it in!  By the time you are actually an Auror, you will be able to do both courses without harm, and without tiring.  I will see you at midnight tomorrow.  This is a portkey; it will activate at one minute to midnight, and when you say _transportium.  Good night, Miss Evans," Mr. Beechman said, smiling._

                "Good night!" replied Lily.  "_Transportium!"_


	10. Officially Discipulus

A/N:  I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to update!  I really am.  Well, this chapter is pretty long, so enjoy, and then review!  I repeat:  REVIEW!

                Lily was in high spirits the next day, for she was eager to help in the effort.  She fairly bounced from class to class.  The only thing that could have dampened her spirits was-

                "Malfoy," Sirius spat.

                "Black.  And I see you have your little cronies, as well," Malfoy sneered.

                "We really should be getting on, now," said Lily pleasantly.  "We might be late to Herbology, and that would be a shame!"

                "Well, if it isn't the little mud blood.  Why don't you go help the house-elves with dinner, eh?" Malfoy mocked.

                Lily flushed red, and was about to make a reply, but Remus beat her to it.

                "Hm, what was it that the Headmaster said about racial discrimination?  You, obviously, weren't listening.  I wonder what the headmaster would do if this reached him…" Remus let his words trail off.

                "Till next time, then." Malfoy sauntered away.

                "Thank you, Remus.  Shall we continue on to Herbology, then?" Lily asked, hoping that in the fuss over the mud blood comment, none had wondered what Malfoy had meant by the second remark.

                And fortunately for her, none mentioned it later.

***

                It was around 7:00, so Lily took her leave from her friends and went to her room to practise.  When she took the book Tutela Iubar: The Story of My Life out, Lily decided to practise more wandless magic.  She decided that it would be helpful to know how to cast light without her wand, so that if she ever lost it under the bed, she wouldn't have the troubles of her other roommates in finding light to search by.  Lily remembered that when she had mastered _Wingardium Leviosa_, she had needed to visualize her wand in her head.  She sat down and began practising.

                "_Lumos!" Lily yelled, for what seemed like the millionth time that night.  In fact, she had started work at 7:00, and now it was nearly 11:30!  After a few seconds, a faint light shone from Lily's hand.  It went out after a few seconds, but Lily decided that it was better than nothing.  By the time she had written her progress to Dumbledore, it was 11:55, and nearly time to go for training._

                Lily held tightly to the port key, which was a badge that said Discipulus on it in red lettering, and after a few minutes was transported to the camp.

                "Hello, Lily!" Frank said with a smile.  "Ready to start training?"

                "Sure!  Mr. Beechman told me a little about training, but not much.  Can you tell me a bit more before I dive in head-first?" asked Lily.

                "Of course!  The first thing to do, always, is go to the showers.  Remember to keep a sharp lookout for the different spells, curses, hexes, jinxes, and so on.  If your hit when in training, you have to take everything off yourself.  Put on the uniform waiting, and be careful that there isn't a surprise inside of it!  Your wand will be waiting in the cubby-hole where you put it before entering the shower.  And don't worry if one of the spells that hit you was particularly nasty.  We do have a hospital wing, contrary to popular belief! It's just that if you don't hit the ground out cold, and if you do and can be revived, you don't see it!  After this, you take your first course.  Let's see, that looks like hand-to-hand for you.  HTH is a martial arts technique, except much deadlier.  The teacher isn't afraid to hit hard, nor to hurt you; actually, none of the teachers are, so you learn to get good fast!  One tip: it's always easier on your body to dodge instead of blocking!  On your first day, you have HTH, and on the second you have transportation.  That includes everything from flying to riding horses, biking to running distances.  Okay, let's see, then it looks like you go to WSF.  That would be, Woodcraft, Stealth, and Fencing.  When you're in the woods or trying to sneak about, the easiest way to do so is to feel your body.  Be so in tune with yourself that if you step on an uneven stone, or a stick, you will be able to navigate past silently.  Also, being in tune with yourself helps your senses, which in turn means less hits with spells, weapons, etc.!  With Swordsmanship, try not to whack about.  The sword is like an extension of your body.  Wait!" he said, holding up a hand.  "I know what you're going to ask!  We learn these because someday they may be the only tools we have!  After this you have AM, or Archery and miscellaneous.  It's basically Archery, plus everything else you have yet to take, including knife fighting, and some political skills, as well as much more!  The last class you have is a magical class, covering duels, defences, and such!  Then the only thing left is to make it through the two obstacle courses, using the knowledge given to you by those classes!  And don't forget to practise!  Well, off you go now!  You don't want to be late.  First door on the left.  And also, you come for training twice a week. Your schedule has you here Mondays and Thursdays, so you're in luck!  Those are the days that I'm here!  I'm also here Wednesday, and Friday.  Well, you really better hustle!  Have fun!"

                "Oh, I will!" Lily murmured sarcastically, taking the envelope that Frank handed her.  She hurried to the shower room, where she did her best to dodge spells.

                "Ai!" Lily exclaimed as she was hit by a spell that pelted her with cold water.  _Oh well.  At least I'm already wet_.__

Lily felt quite proud of herself by the time she was dressed.  The only other spell that had hit her was one that made her eyesight blurry for about a minute, but as Lily could still hear, she managed to avoid spells during that time.  Lily also found out that there was a small area where the spells didn't reach- right behind the door.  It was only a little over half a meter by half a meter, and Lily only barely fit in.  In addition, it was only about half a meter high as well.  _For once, I'm glad that I'm small!  Now if another spell like that blurry-eye thing ever hits me, I can wait for it to pass there!_

                When Lily was out, she remembered the envelope.  Taking it out of her uniform pocket, where she had absently placed it before, she opened it.  A slip of paper fell out.  It read:

Lily~ 

_                For safety reasons, what you are must not be discovered.  From now on, tell all that you are Zia Rhannon.  This is your schedule, and some other information for you.  Enjoy the night!_

_                Sincerely,_

_                                T. Beechman_

Lily shoved the paper back into the envelope, deciding that she had better get to class.  She made a mental note to say she was Zia.   Then she took off at a run.

Lily found the HTH room easily.  The board read: Sit down on the mat and wait.  Lily looked to be the first there, so she sat down on the mat to wait for the other students and the instructor to arrive.  She didn't have to wait long.  Soon a tall man with curly brown hair walked in.  He looked to be middle-aged,  with a kind face and nice looking grey eyes walked in.

                "Oh!" he exclaimed.  "Someone's here already?  It usually takes five more minutes for the first bedraggled Discipulus's to start coming in.  Well, have you done this before?  No, I don't think you have.  You look rather too young and I haven't seen you before, and you would have had to go through HTH.  Well, what's your name?"

                "Er- Zia, sir.  Zia Rhannon.  I'm new here.  I was here last night, so it was my second time through.  But I've never taken a class before," Lily responded, only just remembering to use her new "name."

                "Ah, so you're a fast learner.  Well, as you probably know, this is HTH.  More I will not say until the majority of the class is here, except that I am Master Proelium."

                Lily leaned against the wall of the room to wait, thinking, _I hope I don't make a complete fool out of myself.  _Nearly 5 minutes later, the rest of the class started trooping in, most with an assortment of oddly placed extra limbs, colourful hair, and many other oddities.

                "Well, now that you're all here, five minutes late!!!!!!" boomed Master Proelium.

                Everyone muttered soft apologies and excuses about the curses and hexes.  Master Proelium brushed them aside.

                "I am Master Proelium.  This is Hand-to-Hand, or HTH.  We are learning fighting.  Any questions?"

                Everyone just stared at him.  They had all expected a terribly long lecture on hard road to Aurorship, and what they got was far from it.

                "Good.  Now pair up."  Everyone moved for a partner.  Lily found herself with a man who introduced himself as Jon.  He looked to be at just under 2 meters tall.

                "Are you sure you want to pair with me?  I'm just a tad taller than you, so it might place you at a little bit of a disadvantage!" Jon pointed out. 

                "I'm sure I'll be fine.  If worse comes, I'll just duck under you!" Lily said with a laugh.

                "Okay then!  Listen up!"  Master Proelium proceeded to demonstrate many moves for combat.  Then, he let them practice for about a half hour.

                "Well!  You all did better than I thought you would.  In about a month we will be staging fights, so train hard!  Dismissed!" he bellowed.  The class straggled out.  Lily felt sore all over.

                "Hey!  Zia!" Frank came running over.  "Your next class was WSF, right?  Then go over to the hut at the edge of the training compound, by the woods.  See it?  Good!  Off you go!"

                "Thanks!" Lily yelled after him.

                "Well, you'd better get going, Zia.  My next class is Magical Arts, so I'll see you around!" said Jon.

                "Okay!  Bye!" Lily waved to him as she set off at a jog towards the hut.  Once again, she was the first there, but for the instructor.

                "Hello.  I'm Master Nemus.  Shall we wait for the rest of the class to arrive?" asked the instructor, a man with coppery skin, brown eyes and hair.  He looked as though he was made out of the wood, like he could blend into the trees perfectly.

                Lily nodded her assent.  She sat down on the floor to wait for the rest to arrive, which didn't take as long as before.  Within a few minutes all were there.

                "This is Woodcraft, Stealth, and Fencing.  It takes a double period, as you can see on your schedules."  Master Nemus said.  Lily pulled out her schedule, which read:

24:10: 24:50-  HTH

1:00- 1:45-  WSF

1:55- 2:40-  WSF

2:50-3:35-  AM

3:45- 4:30-   MA 

4:40- 5:50-   OC

                "Woodcraft is how to move silently in the woods, tracking in the woods, and survival skills in the woods.  Stealth is how to get by undetected, and Fencing is, for those idiots out there, swordplay.  Well, let's get started."

                The first half of the lesson was devoted to Woodcraft and Stealth.  They had a 10 minute break, in which they could only get a drink of water if they could get past Nemus undetected, and then they worked on fencing.

                Unfortunately, the sword was almost as tall as Lily herself, and nearly impossible to swing.  Master Nemus came over and gave her a smaller blade, which he called a dirk.  It was just about a perfect fit for Lily!  It took her about five minutes to get the hang of using the blade.

                "Class, like in most of your other classes we will be having competitions, or fights, in time.  Remember to practice!  Dismissed!"  And with that, WSF was ended.  Lily looked at her schedule.  _Where is AM? she thought.  _Well, I think I passed targets on the way here.  It was difficult to tell, in the light, but it won't hurt to check.__

                Luckily, Lily was correct in her guess about where AM was.  She arrived just before most of the others, who had waited to get drinks before coming.  The trainer was a man, tall and very thin.  His black hair reflected off the moonlight.  _How odd, Lily thought.  __He looks like an older version of James! _

                "Good evening.  I am Master Sagitto.  This is Archery and well, a little bit of everything else that wasn't previously covered!  So it's called Archery and Miscellaneous.  The majority of the time is devoted to Archery, and fifteen minutes to other things that will help you on the road to Aurorship.  Please come up here, tell me your name, and I will give you a bow that looks like you can use it.  Then you will grab a quiver of arrows that is the same colour as your bow.  For instance, red and red.  Clear enough?" Master Sagitto asked.

                The class murmured an assent, then formed a line to get their bows.  When it was finally Lily's turn, she went up to Master Sagitto and said, "I'm Zia Rhannon."

                He replied with, "Zia.  I've been expecting you.  Actually, I was told to make ready for a very short student!  This is a special bow for you to learn on, and your arrows.  Once your good enough, you can come for some special training in how to use a bow twice your size!"

                "Thank you, sir," Lily responded.  She took the bow and quiver, strapping the quiver to her back as she knew they did in medieval times.  It felt right on her, like it was part of her.  _I think I'm going to like Archery! Lily thought to herself._

                "All right!  Line up!  Everyone in front of a target!" Master Sagitto yelled out, proceeding to show how to draw a bow, and shoot.  He showed how to aim, then showed how to shoot seemingly without aim!  "Don't be fooled.  I will be amazed if you get within two feet of the target on your first try.  I make it look easy, but it's not.  Most of you will only be adequate archers, and that will be an accomplishment.  Some of you may be abysmal, some may be absolutely amazing.  Just don't give up.  We have 20 more minutes.  Take 15 to see how much natural talent you have.  I will come around to help.  Try to get within a few feet of the target by the end of class.  Shoot!"

                Lily carefully aligned herself as Master Sagitto had shown.  She reached back into her quiver and carefully notched her bow.  Taking careful aim, she released.  The arrow thudded into the outer edges of the target.  _Just a few inches to the down and to the left and I would've hit centre!  Lily thought with excitement.  Nearly shaking with anticipation, she carefully notched another arrow.  Waiting until her trembling abated, she took careful aim and shot again.  This time the arrow was a little closer to the centre.  She let off five more shots, each coming closer to target hair by hair._

                Looking around, Lily noticed that most people had yet to get one shot off.  Master Sagitto was working his way around.  Lily was only two away from him.  _Maybe he can tell me how my aim is wrong.  I was so certain that I had it correct last time!_ Lily thought. She knew she was a bit of a perfectionist, and it was driving her crazy to be always a little bit off.

                Lily thought back to what she had read about archery.  _Of course!  In the books, it said that an arrows path curves slightly up!  If I aim a little below target, I should hit!  Taking painstaking care with her aim, Lily shot one more arrow.  It hit dead centre._

                "Have you done this before?" asked Master Sagitto behind Lily.

                "No.  I've always wanted to.  I was forever reading about medieval times, and wanting to learn fencing, horseback riding, but especially archery.  It's been so since I was around the age of 8."

                "Well, you have an extraordinary talent.  I would like to take you for private lessons; you could become better than any with enough time.  Of course, it's thought that archery is a 'lost' skill, and we don't need to learn it nor teach it, because we have magic.  It's your choice," Sagitto told her.

                "I would love too!" Lily exclaimed.  "That would be groovy.  Thank you so much!"

                "No problem.  Well, as you were the last student and it is nearly time to end this, I'll let you get a few more shots in."

                Lily hit centre once more, and was off a bit for one shot.  Then class was dismissed.

                "And don't forget to practice!  We will be having a tournament later!" roared Master Sagitto after them.

                Lily was already exhausted, and she still had MA and the obstacles to go through!  Sighing, she trudged to the room she had earlier passed marked MA in swirling golden letters.  Once again, she was the first student through the door. 

                "Hello, I'm Zia Rhannon.  Is this Magical Arts?" she asked politely.

                "Yes, it is, Zia.  I'm Master Jahns.  Ah, your all here now.  This is Magical Arts.  We will be learning effective duelling, poison antidotes, magical healing, and much else.  For those that didn't hear, I am Master Jahns.  Please pick up a ledger and a quill.  We will take notes for about 20 minutes, then we will practice effective duelling and taking off the effects of effective duelling," said the man, his long brown hair tied back into a ponytail.  Obediently the class filed past to grab a ledger and a quill, then taking seats at tables.  Lily found herself on an end, sitting next to a boy that looked about 18.

                "Hey!  You're a little young to be here, don't you think, little girl?" a voice whispered from behind her.

                Lily turned around.  "You're a little too much of a prat to be here, don't you think?" she whispered back. 

                "No!  You're the one that shouldn't be here, little girl," whispered the boy behind her maliciously.

                "You don't think?  Oh, dear.  That would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Lily asked, quite innocently.  She had learned her lessons from the Marauders well.

                Luckily, the other boy was kept from answering by the Master.  For the next 20 minutes, they took notes on the proper ways to duel.  Not the kind of duelling that was standard, but in a fight to the death, or capture.  There was a difference, as Lily soon discovered.  Tournament duelling was honourable, and when the first spell hit was when the winner (and loser) were declared.

                Duelling as an Auror was nothing like that.  You were supposed to do whatever you had to do to get the upperhand.  Lily remembered Frank's advice and dodged whenever she could.  Unfortunately, Lily had not the advantage of duelling class at school.  The basic result of this was that Lily ended up dodging a lot.  The good news was that she made a pretty compact target, harder to hit, and easier to dodge. 

                Finally it was time to take off any ill effects.  Lily only had green hair, and it was pretty easy to do.  Then she helped with the burns and cuts of many of the other participants.  Lily found that she had a natural ability for healing.  She was able to heal burns and cuts that others had problems doing.  _Probably some other side effect of being the Tutela Iubar,_ Lily thought.

                Then suddenly, class was over.  Lily made her way to the obstacles, where Frank was waiting.  She silently handed him her wand and resolutely went into the course.  Unfortunately for Lily, she was dead tired.  She came out worse than she had the first time.  The dragons, pits, and climbing wall were hard to make it through.  The bridge was what really had tested her courage, though.

                The bridge was very narrow, only about a hand-spans length.  It was impossibly long, and the fall looked to be impossibly deep.  Lily took a deep breath and started to walk across.  When she had reached a quarter of the way through, she fell.  She only just managed to hang on to the bridge with one hand.  By this time she was cursing the fates that had decided to make _her the Tutela Iubar.  She carefully swung on the bridge, trying to get enough momentum to swing her other hand onto the bridge.  With that accomplished, Lily started to swing once more, until she was able to clamber back into the very narrow bridge._

                _Being in tune with yourself helps you senses…_

Frank's earlier words came back to her.  She concentrated on her breathing, on feeling the bridge through her foot.  In a few moments everything came into much sharper focus.  Lily smiled grimly and began to walk along the bridge once more, with no more mishaps.

                When Lily got out of the first course, she quickly caught her breath, grabbed her wand, and jogged into the second, making sure to feel herself.

                It was a good thing that she did.  A few seconds into the course, magical creatures were lying in wait around the corner.  The only thing that let Lily know they were there was her heightened eyesight, allowing her to catch a glimpse of electric blue.  She racked her mind to think of what it could be.  _Of course!  Cornish Pixies!  Lily got past them with ease._

                It was all the other things that gave her trouble.

                When she finally emerged, Lily was in a sorry state.  She was drenched in sweat, had an extra arm, and various cuts and bruises.  On top of that she was dead tired.  Lily didn't know how she was going to stay awake the next day.

                "Congratulations!" Frank exclaimed.  "You made it out.  Most don't, not after the first day of training!"

                "Well, I feel awful, and probably look worse, and you're congratulating me?" Lily asked with disbelief.

                "I looked worse, if it makes you feel better!  Got taken out by the dragon, which turned out to be an illusion with a fire spell.  Woke up in the hospital three hours later!"

                "Yurck.  Why do people become Aurors?  Why?" Lily asked the heavens, not expecting an answer.

                "It pays well!" Frank responded cheerfully.

                "And how can you be so wide-awake?"

                "I dunno!  Well, you better be off if you want any sleep!"

                "Good night, Frank."

                "Good night.  It's actually morning, though."

                "Good night!" Lily repeated emphatically.  "_Transportium!"_

***

                Lily slept right through breakfast.  Luckily, the first class of the day was History of Magic, double period, so Lily slept through that as well.  By the time it ended, Lily felt well rested again.  Well, as well rested as she could having just several hours ago been hanging of the edge of a bridge.

                "Why so tired, Lilycake?" asked Remus.

                "I had to finish that blasted Goblin essay that you finished during lunch yesterday.  I had no such luxury," Lily replied.  She felt bad about lying to her friends, but what else could she have done?

                "Okay then," Remus said, a little suspiciously.  "If you say so."

                "And I do."

                Charms was right after lunch, and then a free-period.  Lily was an above-average student in Charms, so she made it through that class okay.  The free-period she used to do the History of Magic Essay (Why was Heetful the Hateful important?  3 rolls of parchment.)  It took only half her period, so she grabbed her Charms book and did the Charms essay as well.

                Dinner was an uneventful affair, partly because Snape, Malfoy, and their friends were in the Hospital Wing because of an unfortunate issue dealing with swelling potions dropping on heads, armed with a Timed charm. 

                "Well, for once the size of their heads matches that of their ego's," Sirius had impertinently told Professor McGonagall, earning a week's worth of detention.  ("Yes!  7 closer to the record!")

                The other reason was that there was an attack on a wizarding village just west of Canterbury, called Forthwithering.  Apparently, about 20 black-robed masked wizards had apparated in, set fire to houses and performed random acts of killing before shooting a sign into the sky and leaving.  The sign was that of a skull, with a snake entwined through it.  The worst rumour of all was that the group had found a spell to simply kill a victim, with no visible marks.  It would simply leave them dead.

                After dinner, the Headmaster stood up to make an announcement.  "Students.  You are all talking about the attack on Forthwithering.  I'm not going to lie to you and say that there is nothing to worry about.  This is something quite serious.  Some of you have lost family or friends in the attack.  I offer you my sincere condolences and support.  You may rest assured that you are safe at Hogwarts.  Thank you."

                Now the whole Hall was abuzz with talk.  One girl burst into tears and ran outside.  Lily wondered if this was the danger that she was to protect the world from.

***

                In the next two days, Lily formulated a solid training plan.  In training for her special powers, she would go on alternating Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at night.  That way, she might at least prevent suspicion from setting in on where she went every night. The Auror training took place after she parted company with all of her friends, so that wasn't a problem.  She didn't plan on training Mondays and Thursdays because of how intense the classes themselves were on their own.  She knew she would need all her strength.

                Thursday night came.  At midnight she went to the facilities, where she again met with Frank, as she would do for many more nights.  Lily wasn't hit by any spells in the shower!  She was so happy, she nearly skipped to the clearing Frank had indicated was for Transportation.

                The instructor introduced herself as Mistress Eques.  She was quite tall, and slender.

                "The most work we will do will be horses, long-distance running, driving cars, and flying.  Today is horseback riding.  It will change with each class.  Please proceed to the stable and choose a mount.  These are the mounts that you will be using for the rest of your time as a Discipulus, and as an Auror, so choose carefully.  If you need help, ask for it," she said.

                Lily was thrilled.  She had always loved horses.  Once in the stable, she spotted a beautiful black stallion near the corner of the stable.  Something possessed her to walk over to him.

                "Girl, you don't want that one.  He's vicious.  Watch-" Mistress Eques cut off her words abruptly.  The stallion was nuzzling Lily's hand with his nose.

                "Well, maybe it'll be okay.  His name is Wind Dancer.  We can find you a slightly smaller saddle, so that you'll fit," Mistress Eques remarked.

                "Thank you," said Lily.

                "Class!"  Mistress Eques then showed them how to saddle the horses and lead them out.  Lily awkwardly slipped the saddle onto Dancer, then finished with the rest of the gear and led him out. Then Eques told them how to be safe and direct the horse.  When they were finally allowed to ride, Dancer was a dream.  He responded to Lily's every thought, it seemed.  When class was over, Lily was quite disappointed.

                The rest of the night went well, with Lily constantly improving.  Master Sagitto arranged for private lessons from midnight to one every Tuesday.  He said that he would meet her at the field, and that she didn't have to dress or anything.  By the time the obstacle came around, Lily was confident that she would do better.

                She did do better.  Lily came out with a few minor cuts and bruises, easily healed away.  Life as a Discipulus was getting easier already.

                When she said goodbye to Frank, he commented on it.  "How come you're the one who's so cheerful tonight?" he teased.

                "I dunno!  Bye!"  With a wave, Lily activated the port key and was gone.


	11. Thank you!

AN:  This isn't an update.  In fact, it's going to be a little bit until the next update for a chapter.  I'm terribly sorry!  This is a thank you to all my WONDERFUL reviewers (who their aren't enough of,,,, COUHGCOUGH!)

Fireangel: Hey!  No more fainting, all right?  *holds bucket of water suspiciously* Thank you for the reviews!!!

Lady Arabella Sedai:  You again?  You're amazing!  Wow!

All4sirius:  Thank you!

Vana Burke:  I'll try to be less depressing…..but no promises!

Crazy Luvolee:  Not for a while yet……. But Sirius already knows!  Who knows what HE'S going to say?

Lover of the dragon: Really?  I try to be unique…….. not so sure if  I always succeed…….

Um…..: Thank you!  I will!

Lady of Stars:  Yep!  From Tammy!  Thanks Stella!

Jess S.:  Well, Thank you!  Hm…. Yes, all that comes later, but a LOT later, sorry!  But they do think it's wicked cool!  (After they finish being shocked, of course!)  Erm…. L/J?????  Well, I had started out that way, and I think it's going to keep going that way, but I'm not so sure…… But it WON'T be a Lily/any other Marauder fic.  I can promise that.  And Harry will be Harry Potter!  The Marauder's know about Remus's wolfyness, but they don't know about Lily.  Thanks so much for the review!

Chrissy Greanleaf:  Well, if you had read farther you would know……  **glare*  No, it's okay!  Snape is Lily's Uncle!

Kitty:  Thank you!

Drowning Goldfish:  Well, my wonderful beta, you arrived much too late to save me!  I've already played the game!  AGH!!!! Actually, though, I really like Orli as Orli, not just as Legolas……  Three arms?  Go you!  Me?  What have I ever done to corrupt you???  **grins sheepishly**  Thanks for all the great beta-ing!

AlwaysLJK: Thank you!  I do try!  And I am writing!  I am!


	12. New Friends, New Ability

A/N: Okay, this is a new chapter.  I'm sorry if you thought the last one was a chapter!!!  I'm also sorry that this is so late….. really sorry.  Please review this, because (you've heard this a million times) it motivates me!  I really love all your reviews, and appreciate it a lot.  Thanks!

                The next day, Lily wondered exactly why she had been in such a good mood last night.  She was dead tired, and McGonagall had sprung a pop quiz on them.  It was quite easy, and Lily thought that she passed, but she couldn't concentrate on the transfiguration.

                After the pop quiz in Transfiguration, they had a free period.  The Marauder's were scribbling frantically on a Potions essay. Lily had finished it the day they had gotten it, so she did the Transfiguration essay.

                At lunch, Dumbledore announced another attack on a family- the Fontaines.  This time, Cora ran out of the hall, crying.  _I wonder…._ Lily thought.  Sighing, she got up and followed Cora out, since Cora's friends were just sitting, still talking about the latest gossip, no doubt.

                Lily cautiously went into the bathroom.  "Cora?  It's Lily.  Can I come in?"

                There was no answer, so Lily went in anyways.  She walked slowly to the very last stall, where Cora was sitting and crying.  "Do you want to talk about it?"  she asked.

                Surprisingly, Cora threw her arms around Lily.  Lily didn't know quite what to do, so she awkwardly hugged Cora.  "It's okay, we're safe at Hogwarts," Lily murmured.

                "It's not that!" Cora sobbed. 

"Then wha- oh.  Oh, Cora, I'm so sorry!" Lily exclaimed, just realising that the Fontaines mentioned by Dumbledore must have been Cora's family.  She just stood there, comforting the crying girl.

~~~

                The rest of the day went by in a blur.  The whole school was buzzing with the news of Voldemort's latest attack, and Lily had taken Cora to the hospital.  Once there, the nurse, Madame Altrix, told Lily to stay with Cora for the rest of the day.  When it was time for dinner, Madame Altrix had the house-elves bring food up for her in the Hospital Wing.

                Just when Lily was about to leave, she heard Cora say something.

                "Excuse me?" she asked.

                "Thank you," said Cora, a little bit louder.

                "Your welcome," replied Lily.

                When she walked into the common room, it sounded as if there were a three-ring circus going on.  Lily soon found out the reason.

                "That was low, Cynthia!  If you ever needed a friend, Cora would have been there!  I'm bloody tired of you being such a prat all the time!"  With that, Arabella Figg stalked away up the stairs.

                Once again, it was up to Lily to follow.  This time, it was because Kalina and Michelle, Arabella's two friends, were at the Library doing the Transfiguration essay.

Knocking on the door, she asked, "Can I come in?"

                "If you're not Cynthia, then yes.  If you are, and you don't sound like her, then bugger off," came the reply.

                "No, it's Lily."  She pushed the door open.  "What happened?"

                "Nothing, really.  Cynthia is just a backstabbing good-for-nothing.  I can't believe that she never went to see Cora!  You went!  And I don't even think you like Cora!" 

                "Well, she's not exactly my best friend," Lily admitted.

                "Yes, exactly, but Cynthia _is her best friend!"_

                "I have to agree with you there."

                "Well, Lily, I've got to get down to the library.  You want to come?" Arabella asked.

                "Okay, that would be great.  I need to look up one thing for the Transfiguration essay, then I can do that Herbology paper," Lily replied.

                "I thought so.  Your friends aren't much the library type, are they?" Arabella asked.

                "Not really, Arabella."

                "Call me Ara, or Bella.  Arabella is such a mouth-full.  Just don't call me Bells!"

                "Sure, Ara!" Lily said.

                "Then let's be off!"

                When they reached the library, Ara introduced Lily to Kalina Mendelis and Michelle Kalbin.

                "Michelle, Lina, this is Lily.  You've probably met before."

                "Hello!  It's nice to finally talk to you!"  Lina exclaimed.

                "Yes, I agree.  Well, I for one have to get this essay done," Michelle replied.

                "Don't mind her.  She's just a little anti-social," said Ara, glaring at Michelle.  The blue-haired girl pretended not to notice.

                "That's fine.  I don't mind!"  Lily said.

                Lily pulled out the books on Transfiguration, and quickly found that she had been right.  She was going to do her Herbology paper when she realised it was already done!  Lily didn't mind; it gave her the opportunity to read more about Genevieve Tristan and her own powers.

                Concentrating, Lily held out her wand and summoned the book from its room.  But something went wrong.  Instead of floating to her, the book simply disappeared from the room and appeared in front of Lily!

                She gasped in surprise, then quickly realised that this must be one of her special powers.  She brought the book to the table where Ara, Lina, and Michelle sat and flipped to the chapter 'My Many Special Abilities.' 

                It said that Lily could apparate with or without a wand, through any kind of wards.  She could do wandless magic, and see the future.  She could time-travel safe of the catches restrained on normal witches and wizards, and sense lies and evil. Genevieve also implied that there were other powers that she herself had yet to harness. 

                "Hey, whatcha got there?" asked Ara, peering over at the book.

                "Oh, it's just a book.  Nothing special," Lily replied, quickly freezing time.  She ran over to the shelf, grabbed a copy of Cinderella, and ran back.  She quickly switched the books, putting Tutela Iubar in her bag.  She unfroze time.  "It's Cinderella, a Muggle fairytale."

                "Can I see?"  asked Lina, who, coming from a pureblood family, loved anything to do with Muggles.

                "Sure," Lily said, handing the book over.

~~~

                Lily's Archery lesson was that night, and she was so excited.  Lily knew that she would have a lot of fun.  Hurriedly, she used the Portkey to get to the training grounds.  She met Master Sagitto at the Archery field.

                "Hello, Zia.  How are you?  Well, I hope?" he asked.

                "Yes, sir, I'm feeling quite excited!  How are you?" she responded.

                "Well, I'm fine!  Shall we get started?"  He handed Lily her bow, and a quiver full of arrows.  "I want you to shoot ten of these, and aim for that target.  I'd like to see how accurate and consistent you are."

                "Okay, sir," Lily replied, bringing an arrow to the bowstring.  She carefully aimed for the target- _whoops!  Better aim a little off, because the arrow arcs,_ she reminded herself.  Adjusting slightly, she let the arrow fly.  It hit the target, nearly dead centre.  Out of the next nine, all were in the bulls-eye, and 5 were completely on the centre.

                "Well, that was impressive, Ms. Rhannon.  You have quite a talent.  However, if you adjusted your stance slightly, it would allow for more consistency and faster shooting, not to mention being more accurate.  Here, bring your shoulders in line, like this."  He carefully adjusted Lily's stance, until he pronounced it perfect. 

                "Now step out of that, and try to get into it once more."  Lily carefully aligned herself the way she thought Master Sagitto had her.  She spent the next twenty minutes adjusting and readjusting her stance.

                "That's it!  Perfect!"  Master Sagitto yelled.  "Now, shoot ten arrows."  All ten were in the bulls-eye, and 8 were dead centre.

                "That's good, but we need to work on how you get the arrows out of the quiver and on the bow…"

                And hour later, Lily was back in the Gryffindor common room, completely exhausted.

~~~

                In the weeks that followed, Lily became much closer to Ara, Lina, and even the elusive Michelle.  Lily also tried her best to spend time with the Marauder's, and other people.  It was starting to take a toll on her body, and one night, she found herself being dragged to the Hospital Wing by Remus, Sirius, and Michelle.

                "You're sick, Lilyangel," argued Sirius.

                Lily responded vehemently.  She hated being sick. "I am fine!  I do not need to go-"  

                "No, you aren't.  Don't try that with me!"  Michelle said.

                "I remember the time that you said, 'I'm fine,' just so we could go climb trees.  You weren't, and ended up in bed for three weeks with pneumonia.  Do you remember that, Lilycake?" Remus asked, with a smile.  He knew he was going to win this round.  "Actually, maybe you don't.  You collapsed an hour after we had started climbing."

                "Oh, do be quiet.  I'll go!" Lily snapped.  She would probably end up missing her practise tonight.  Luckily, it was one of hers and she wouldn't miss a night training as an Auror.

                "Oh my!  You were right to bring her here, Mr. Lupin, Black, Miss Kalbin.  She's running a fever of 101.3 degrees!  She should be back with you by tomorrow, never fear," Madame Altrix said.

                Sirius shot one of his famous "I told you so" looks at Lily, while Remus wore his long-suffering "I'm always right, but no one ever listens to me" look.  Michelle was looking at Lily with her "I'm always right and you're always wrong so get used to it" smirks. 

"Okay, okay!" Lily exclaimed.  "I'm sick, alright?  You happy?  Huh?"

                "Oh, dear.  She's grumpy as well.  All of you- out!  Out!  I need to see to my charge!  And my charge needs rest!  Out!" Madame Altrix shooed Sirius, Remus and Michelle out of the hospital wing.  They all looked at each other and shrugged.

                "See you tomorrow, Lily!" Michelle called back.

                "Okay, dear.  Ah, here's the Headmaster now!"

                "Poppy, Ms. Evans.  Ms. Evans, we'd like you to try something for us.  Can you reach inside of yourself and heal yourself?  This is a long shot- we'll give it three tries before we call it quits," Professor Dumbledore explained.

                "I can try, sir," Lily said, but she was thinking, _Is he mental? _

                "Thank you Ms. Evans.  Oh, and in response to your unasked question, I am not mental. This is supposed to have been an ability that one or two of the Guardians have had." 

                "Okay," Lily replied.  She looked inside herself, finding what it was the made her Lily Evans.  _I've gotten quite good at this- what with the Auror training and wandless magic and all.  Gently she poked the ball of glittering gold, until it streamed outward.  She gently guided it towards her sore throat and headache.  "Merlin dang it!" she exclaimed as she lost concentration._

                "That's quite alright, Ms. Evans.  You were quite close, which means that you can probably do it.  Try again," Professor Dumbledore said, smiling.

                Lily sighed and repeated the process up to the point where she had been.  She carefully let the gold fire wash over her sore throat, clearing what was making her cough.  Then she tried to get rid of the headache.  _Come on, just a little further, she urged herself.  Finally, she was able to sweep the headache and fever away.  She was sweating heavily, and very tired._

                "Very good, Ms. Evans!  You will be a very formidable witch, given enough time!" Professor Dumbledore exclaimed, blue eyes sparkling with her success. 

~~~

                It was nearly time for the Halloween feast.  Everybody in the castle was buzzing with excitement- Dumbledore had something special planned.

                Lily, however, was excited for quite a different reason.  All of her instructors in Aurorship had agreed that she was a fast and good learner, and decided that she would be ready to test for Aurorship by Christmas.  Lily couldn't wait.  She _knew _that she'd be able to help the world as an Auror.


	13. Adiutor

                "How?" asked Minerva McGonagall.  She had been so sure that her rooms were safe from the rampage that students were on lately.  First Professor Sprout, then, Iniquitas, Binns, Sinistra, and then Trelawney.  And now her.  Rooms redecorated, not that it wasn't good taste, but just the thought!  If anyone had found those letters- _No, they didn't.  They didn't even find the box where I have them,_ Minerva thought.  _Heavens, this room is a mess!  _Just bloody awful, the way no one could prove that it was indeed the Marauders.  Oh, how those boys vexed her.  And Minnie was certain that little Lily Evans was helping them.  Of course, she was glad that Lily had made friends in third year, but she knew from the first day in Transfiguration, when Lily went to sit with Sirius and Remus, that trouble was coming.  And it was.  Minerva should have been the Divination professor, not Trelawney.

                At that very time, Lily was indeed with the Marauder's, plotting the biggest prank that they had ever pulled off.  It was very risky, yet when they pulled it off, no one would be spared humiliation.  At least, no one by the names of Malfoy, Goyle, Crabbe, Nott, Avery- well, suffice it to say, there was going to be a lot of angry Slytherins.

                "Pour it in here, Peter," whispered James.  He carefully held open a very large bag.

                "Hurry up!  I think somebody might be coming!" whispered Sirius.

                "No, that's just Remi," Lily said.  Sirius cracked up.

                "What?" Lily asked, irritated.

                "Remi!" he replied, wheezing for breath.

                "Yes?" Remus.

                "Do you have the bowl and map?" demanded James.

                "Yes," Remus replied.

                "So we just put this on the table where they'd be sitting, in the kitchens?" asked Peter, still a little confused.

                "Yes," Remus said.

                "Don't worry, Petey, it'll go fine!" James said, reassuringly.

                "Yes!" Remus agreed.

"Can you say anything besides yes, Remus?" asked Sirius, amused.

                "Yes!"  Remus protested.  Everyone keeled over, laughing.

~~~

                Lily was working harder than ever.  She was training for Aurorship, and going two extra nights a week for training.  Basically, she had two free nights a week.  It would have been fine, if she was friends with anyone but the Marauders.  She often had to turn time back to go on a midnight excursion with them.  It took it out of her faster than you could say cheese.  

Of course, Gen assured her that it would not be tiring at all, once Lily had stopped growing.  Lily had discovered that through a blank page at the back of Tutela Iubar she could communicate with Gen. All that was required was to talk to the book.  Lily had found that out one night when she was working on a particularly difficult wandless spell.  She had been a little exasperated, and yelled at the book.  _Okay, so I had a full-on temper tantrum,_ she admitted to herself.  Gen had replied with, "My, oh my!  What a distraught little child!"  Things had developed from there.

Lily was supposed to have been training behind Jinglewort, but it was All Hollow's Eve, and she deserved a break.  Besides, the prank was on, and she was a crucial part of the plan.

"Okay, now, look innocent.  Right, now set off those fireworks.  Good, they'll think that's all," whispered James, looking over at the blown up Slytherin table which was fixed by a flick of Dumbledore's wand.

"Potter!  Black!  Lupin!  Pettigrew!  Evans!" Minnie screeched.  "Detention!"

"Poor Minnie, now that she has to add Evans, it takes her longer.  She still half forgets it each time!" remarked Sirius.  Fortunately, Minnie didn't hear that.

"Okay, ready, and, now!" James whispered.  The group went into action.  Peter had done the fireworks, so it was his turn to be sentry.  As the Slytherins were choking on their suddenly spicy food, with no liquids in sight, Lily went to ground.  She snuck to the entrance of the Great Hall, and got ready to cast a group charm.  They were very difficult, and Lily was half-afraid she wouldn't get all of the Slytherins.  She tightened her grip on her wand, pointed it at the Slytherins running out of the hall, and said, "_Commissural Catio Tarantallegra_!"  She only hoped that Remus was doing his part of the bargain and turning them into- ah, there it was!  The red firecracker!  Lily rushed to her seat.  James gave her a thumbs-up, so everything had gone off smoothly.

                "Mr. Potter, is one detention not enough?  I know that you threw that firecracker, so don't deny it.  Detention!" Minnie said, angry that it was Gryffindors causing this fuss.  _But what should I have expected from this lot?_ she asked herself regretfully.

                "Of course, Minnie," James said.

                "Potter!  Another detention, for impertinence!"  Minnie started back to the staff table, but halfway there, she turned into a cat.  All the other professors had turned into some sort of animal as well.

                "So far, so good," Sirius whispered.  The doors to the Great Hall slid slowly open.  A line of dancing Jack O' Lanterns came into the Hall, singing "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles. 

                "Like the extra touch?" Remus asked, eyes dancing like the Slytherins in their delight.

                One by one, each came up to the Staff Table, stood on it and announced his or her name, year, and best-kept secret.  Malfoy's was that he fancied a House-elf at home.  He went on and on, until Avery knocked him off the table to announce that he loved playing cricket.  One by one, embarrassing secrets came out.  Fortunately, the spells had only included those in third and fourth year.  Maybe if just one seventh year, or particularly vicious sixth year, had become caught in the spells, a blow would have been struck home.  At least ten of the Slytherins from seventh, and two from sixth, were caught in the spells of one Tom Riddle.

~~~

                The Marauders, and Lily, had detention for the next month and a half.  Actually, Lily had it for two weeks.  The teachers still fell for the big-eyed innocent little girl look.

                Lily became more and more adept at her Auror skills.  She had her own horse, like all the Discipulus, and she had named it Faer.  Faer meant spirit in Elvish, which Lily was still very much enamoured with.  Being a witch hadn't cured her desire to meet real elves from the stories of JRR Tolkien.  The stories had come out recently, and Lily was already hooked.  She imagined that Faer was like Shadow-fax, Mithrandir's horse, and could outride anything that came at him.  Lily was very good at riding, and was one of the fastest in the programme.

                She also excelled at all of her other training, except, perhaps, HTH.  Being little had given her no end of trouble.  She was easily man-handled, and couldn't aim high enough to do pressure points.  Fencing was also a little more difficult.  Getting locked hilt to hilt meant that a grown man or woman's strength was bearing down on Lily.  Other than that, she did very well.

                Though she was quite good at woodcraft, the skill that Lily really was best at was Archery.  By the time her testing for Aurorship had come around, Lily could beat Master Sagitto six times out of ten.

                "You're a natural, Zia," he said then, breaking into her thoughts.  "You'll do wonderfully."

                "Okay, Zia, are you ready?" Mr. Beechman asked.  She nodded.

                "You are being tested for Aurorship.  An Auror must always…" Mr. Beechman went on to explain the responsibilities of an Auror.  Lily felt herself getting more and more nervous.

                Each of her instructors had a turn, telling what skills she needed, and what responsibilities came with them.

                Mr Beechman finished, "Do you accept the rules and responsibilities of being an Auror?"  
                "I do," Lily said, not quite controlling the shake in her voice.

                "Do you take full and total responsibility for this knowledge, and the knowledge that you could be killed at any point in this test?"

                "I do."

                "Do you swear to stay faithful and true to the nature and intent of this society of Aurors?"

                "I do."

                Then he turned to her instructors.  "Do you, the council, agree that one Lily Azalea Evans should be given this chance to proceed into the life of an Auror?"

                "We do," said all of her instructors.

                "Then, Lily Azalea Evans, do continue on to the next stage.  Hold true to all that you have learned, and all that you hold true.  There will be three series of tests."

                Lily walked into the next chamber, tensed and got ready for action.  But there was nothing, just white walls and a chair.  Lily opted not to sit- first lesson was to never relax in a potentially dangerous situation.  She later decided that the decision was an excellent one- she was still alive to go to the next room five minutes later when another door opened.

                Lily stepped into that room, and found herself in the Arctic.  She somehow knew that it was a mission gone wrong, and that without food or water, she would soon die.  She had neither eaten nor drank in three days. 

                "Aye, little lass, I'll gladly give you some food and drink," said a kindly voice.

                "What's the price?" Lily asked, knowing not to trust anyone here.  She was in enemy territory, and no one knew what the rules were.

                "Price?  Just a little bit of information… not much.  Maybe what you're doing out here, your base, how many wands you have…"

                Though Lily desperately needed that food and drink, she could never betray her mission.  "No, thank you, but I have someplace I need to be," she said politely.  He pressured her for another half-hour, and saw that she wasn't going to give in.  The room slowly dissolved, leaving Lily with only the faintest memory of great hunger and terrible thirst.

                All of the following rooms were the same- a test of her loyalty, honesty, and ability to hold out against torture.  That was the worst.  The chamber had been filled with wizards, each taking a turn at practising their _Crucio_.  Then she was out, out of the building, past the first series of tests.  Onto the second!

                The second series tested her courage- all of her worst fears were thrown at her.  Lily wasn't able to move for a good five minutes after that.  Not after Uncle- _Don't think about it,_ she firmly told herself.  _Think about the next series._

                The third, and final, tests were the only ones that Lily knew about ahead of time- the obstacle courses.  She vaulted through a wall of flame, got rid of an unwanted Boggart, and levitated across great chasms.  She swam rivers, rode horses, and shot down bears before they reached her.  Lily fought a variety of opponents, and snuck through woods.  She camped, found food, and generally survived.  By the time she got out, Lily was a mess.  She was nearly in a nervous breakdown, and so exhausted that she could have collapsed where she sat.  But Lily couldn't sleep for weeks after, because every time she closed her eyes,  she could see the face of one of the phantom people that she had killed going through the obstacles staring back at her, blame very clear in their eyes.  She relived the second task, relived each fear, over and over.  Often she woke screaming, and Lina would sit with her until she went back to sleep.  Michelle wasn't the kind of person to do that, and Ara slept like a rock.  Nothing woke her up, unless you knew how to do it properly.

~~~

                Three weeks later Lily was fidgeting nervously as Frank helped her to adjust her new Auror's robes.

                "Don't worry, the hard part is over," Frank told her.

                "I know, but now I actually have to go up there, in front of all those people…" Lily said, voice trembling.

                "Didn't you tell me about a prank that you pulled in the beginning of the year?  You spoke in front of everybody then," he reminded her.

                "That was different," Lily said anxiously.

                "How?"

                "Those were students.  These are _Aurors_, Frank!  _Aurors!_ What if I say something stupid and everyone laughs?"

                "You won't.  Aren't I an Auror?  Anyways, as you said, they are Aurors.  They've all been through it.  They won't laugh, Lily."

                "If you say so," Lily said, doubtfully.

                "I do," replied Frank.

                "We're starting in five!" called Mr. Beechman.

                One by one, the Aurors were going to be filed onto the stage to sit in a chair engraved with their name.  There were seven total, Lily included.

                She looked out into the crowd and was very much reassured when she saw Professor Dumbledore, who winked at her.  It seemed like no time at all before she was called up to receive her first Auror's jumper.

                "This is one of our best Discipulus's.  She works hard, learns fast, and has quite a bit of natural talent.  You may have noticed that she is a little bit shorter and younger than the rest here.  It has led quite a few to underestimate her.  Don't, because this little girl may very well become the best Auror in the business.  I wouldn't be surprised.  She passed the tests with flying colours, and I'm happy to present her with her first jumper," Mr. Beechman said proudly, handing Lily a plain black jumper with a dark blue stripe on it.

                Then Lily stepped up to make her speech. "Thank you for giving me a chance to prove that I could get here.  I never thought it would be possible for me to ever get here, at least not until I was older, and more experienced.  This means so much to me, and I will do my best to help the wizarding society overcome the growing darkness.  Thank you," Lily said, without a single tremble in her voice.  No one laughed.

~~~

                After the whirlwind of congratulations from Aurors and Professors from Hogwarts, Lily was finally able to collapse behind Jinglewort and examine her jumper more closely.  She knew that for the four levels of Aurors, there were four colours of stripes.  Dark blue for Adiutors, dark green for Reservos, dark red for Integos, and dark purple for Vindicatios.  The Aurors system was based on units.  Five quadrants to every unit, and seven Aurors to every quadrant.  Regular Aurors got one stripe, quadrant heads two, unit heads three, and the commander of the whole group got four.  The highest spot there was, besides Mr. Beechman's post of chairman, was the post Imperator, for males, or Imperatrix, for females.  As of the moment, it was an Imperator.  The Imperator was the head of the Vindicatio group, and therefore, head of the whole league.  If an Auror that had a higher rank told you to do something, you would obey.  The Imperator was the highest of all, and it was every Auror's dream to be Imperator or Imperatrix.

                Slowly, Lily put the jumper away and made her way to the Gryffindor common room.  Halfway there, she nearly fell across the Marauders.  They were talking in hushed voices, and Lily decided to sneak up on them to scare them.  She carefully positioned herself behind a statue, and was ready to jump out, when she heard herself mentioned.

                "We can't tell Lily; it's much too dangerous," Sirius argued in a whisper.

                "It's not fair to leave her out of it either," said Peter.  "She's part of this group!"

                "I agree with Sirius.  Imagine what Remus is going to say when he finds out.  He'll be mad as a hornet, but if he knows that we let Lily try, I wouldn't be surprised if he never spoke to us again," James whispered.

                "Okay, but I still think we're making a mistake," Peter said.

                "Good.  So we can become Animagi, and if all happens well, we can tell Remus.  Then, maybe, we'll discuss the Lily issue again," whispered Sirius.

                Lily was furious.  _I can't believe that they'd even consider leaving me out!  Some friends!  At least Peter stuck up for me!_  Lily was so furious that she accidentally ran into Snape.

                "Hey!  Watch where you're going!" he yelled.  Then Snape realised who it was.  _This is my chance.  I need to show someone that I'm not really as mean as everyone thinks.  Besides, she is my cousin, right?_

                "I'm sorry, really sorry, it won't happen again, I promise," Lily was babbling.

                "Hey, don't worry about it.  It happens, right?" Snape said.

"Really?"  Lily asked, surprised.

                "Yes, of course it does.  You look a little upset.  Why don't we go to the kitchens, and you can tell me about it," he said.

                Lily ended up pouring the whole story out to him.  She excluded the part about the Animagi, just saying that they were planning something big and leaving her out of it.  To her surprise, Snape was actually quite nice.  He made cynical, sarcastic comments which had her feeling much better by the time she went back up to the common room.  Snape escorted her halfway, and then made plans with her to meet behind the picture of Willimundo the Worrisome every Sunday night at 8:00.   Lily had found a new friend- in the least likely person of all.
    
    ~~~

                When Lily reported to duty as a full-fledged Auror, she was given a type of pager, and told that she would be contacted on that in a case of emergency.  Then she was told that she would go to the same training grounds, at the same time, to keep up with her skills and learn new skills.  She was handed a schedule of when her quadrant patrolled, then told that she wasn't to come in for a fortnight.

                "You need to recover from the experiences in the tests.  It takes a while, and they want you to have full strength before you start," Frank explained.  "So go get some sleep!"

                Lily happily complied, and for the next fortnight, had a normal life again- well, as normal as it could get while one is ignoring the Marauders.


	14. Thank you's and author's note

A/N: Okay, I SERIOUSLY need a beta-reader!  PLEASE, if you're willing to put up with me and my writing, please tell me!  I really need you!  And, thank you to all who reviewed!  And this is not an update, sorry!

Fireangel: Thanks for ALWAYS reviewing!  And Lina is a great friend- one of the best.  And my prank ideas come from a VERY special person….

ME!:  I'm trying to get you more!  I really am!  But I need a beta-reader!  And Lily will EVENTUALLY make up with the Marauders, and Snape isn't all that bad.  It's the Malfoys you need to watch out for.

Lady of Stars: Thanks, Em!

Lady Arabella Sedai: Yes, the idea of 3 is the same!  And isn't one of Lily's friends named ARABELLA????  (wink, wink).

LJKAlways: Oh no!!!!  You're suffering withdrawal????  Well, then, we need to get you into treatment…. Or I could just write faster, and find a beta-reader!  Thank you so much for your kind comments!

Dark Arts Faerie: Thank you for the reviews!  Your story is really good too!  I can't wait for your next update!


	15. A53's First Patrol

A/N:  Okay, people, you know the drill.  Author apologises for late chapter, you decide to forgive her, and then you review.  You also forgive her for updating the wrong chapter… that was a mistake, Lina.  Thanks to Caryn for pointing that out, and I'm so terribly sorry!  One difference this time:  I want to know if you want longer chapters and more time between updates, or shorter chapters (this length) and less time between updates.  Longer chapters and less time between updates is not an answer.  So, please leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter and of the Big question.

                When Lily port-keyed to the training camp again, Frank handed her yet another schedule.

                "Hello again!  You'll have the same classes as before, and some new classes have been added.  Go to the showers first, of course, and be careful- there are some nasty new spells!  You'll be coming in twice a week, just like when you were training to become an Auror!  Your new classes are TA, which is Transportation and Apparating.  That's basically your old trans class, and they teach you how to Apparate.  Same teacher, place, and everything.  PMS, which stands for Politics and Magical Subterfuge.  I don't think admin realised it also stands for post- actually, you don't need to know that yet.  Anyways, you learn politics, which is basically how to tell someone they're under arrest without sounding rude, and how to get into people's good graces, which comes in handy on spying missions.  Magical Subterfuge is all about disguise.  Well, you'd better hustle up- you're nearly going to be late!  Oh, and I'm supposed to tell you that you're coming in on Mondays and Wednesdays!"

                Lily ran to the showers, and quickly got ready for training.  Once again, there was a little space where no spells could reach, and Lily was able to avoid every spell, including one that looked like it might turn an unsuspecting witch or wizard into a fly.  Lily then pulled out her schedule, which read:

24:10: 24:50- TA

1:00- 1:45- PMS

1:55- 2:40- AM 

2:50-3:35- HTH 

3:45- 4:30- MA

4:40- 5:50- WSF 

Training Days: Mondays and Wednesdays

Patrol Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 23:00-5:00

Patrol Assignment:  Adiutor, Unit Five, Quadrant three, Auror Seven (A537)

_Lily-I'd like you to keep your name as Zia, just in case.  The jumper ceremony was closed, and everyone there was trusted explicitly.  We can't trust everyone, however, and there may be spies here.  Good luck,___

_Mr. Beechman___

                _Okay, so I'd better head over to the clearing and Mistress Eques.  Maybe I'll get there early enough to see Dancer! _ Lily hadn't seen Wind Dancer since she had become an Adiutor.

                "Zia!  Welcome, and how are you?  We're so glad to have you back!" exclaimed Mistress Eques.

                "I'm feeling good, and it's great to be back!  I can't wait to see Dancer, and to learn how to Apparate!"  Lily said.

                "That's good!  It's great to see such enthusiasm.  Well, the rest of the class is arriving, so let's start, shall we?

                This is TA, people!  I will teach you how to use ANY means of transportation, including Apparating!  This is no joke!  Neither is it the time to fool around!  If you are splinched in this class, I will not be sending for Ministry officials!  Your classmates will put you back together, and if it hurts, TOO BAD!  Now, these are the basics of Apparation: 1) ALWAYS hold your destination point in your mind!  And be sure to visualise it correctly!"

                "Excuse me, but why do we have to picture it?  Can't we just go?" asked a short boy, with long brown hair.

                "Well, you can just go, Mr. Drugo, if you want to end up in a completely different destination.  That's if you're lucky.  You might get splinched, or be sent to another planet, where magic doesn't exist!  Then you might be stuck on that planet forever.  If you want that, by all means, just go.  If not, you MUST visualize!  Do I make my meaning clear?"

                The whole class nodded.

                "Good.  Now, the second point is…"  The rest of the class was spent taking notes on the basics of Apparation.

                After TA was over, the class was pointed in the direction of their next class- in Lily's case, PMS.  The classroom was very plain; the only furniture in the room were desks for the students, and the walls were white.  The teacher was already there, standing menacingly by a board covered with scribbles and notes.  When he saw her, his cold blue eyes glittered in a disturbing manner.

                "Erm, Hello, master.  I'm, er, here for the, erm, class, yes, that's right," Lily said, quaking as he glowered darkly at her.  His tall, lean form leaned in towards her.

                "Here for class, are you?  Well, speak up, child!  Name!" he barked.  Lily couldn't help noticing a mark on his arm, a bit like a Muggle tattoo.  It was a skull, with a snake through the mouth.  _Why does that look so familiar?_  she asked herself as she replied with, "Zia.  Zia Rhannon, sir."  He grunted as the rest of the class came in.

                "Take a seat!  Now!" he bellowed.  The class hurried into seats, looking at each other apprehensively. 

                One man that looked to be about twenty whispered to a friend, "Well, we can't have expected them all to be nice.  Pity, though."

                "Now, this is Politics and Magical Subterfuge!  You will not call it PMS in my hearing!  My name is Master Civilitas, which is what you will call me at all times!  In this class, we learn how political systems work in all countries, how to fit into any situation, and how to be an effective field agent during the more delicate assignments!  You will learn how to disguise yourselves, and how to withstand torture, among other things."  Master Civilitas pulled out his wand and muttered an incantation.  His body immediately altered, leaving him a rather plain man with thinning brown hair and a potbelly.  "As you can see, with the art of disguise and a little acting, you can completely alter your personality.  The identity I just took on was that of a high-ranking Death-Eater.  We'll learn more about them later.  For now, you _may_ call this class PMS, and it should be a lot of fun," he said, in a much nicer voice.  "Now, tonight I'll be teaching you about withstanding torture, as some of you have a patrol tomorrow night.  Remember, this is a high-risk job, and you could be captured or killed at any time.  These are the basic rules for withstanding torture…"

                When PMS was over, Lily knew more about torture than she thought she ever wanted to know.  With a sigh of relief, she headed for her favourite class, Archery and Miscellaneous.  Master Sagitto was there already, and he smiled when he saw her.

                "Hello, Master!"  Lily greeted him cheerily.

                "Hello, Zia.  I was wondering when I'd see you again!" he replied.  "Ah, here's the rest of the class.  Good day, or perhaps I should say good evening?  In any event, you all know me, and you think you know my class.  You are wrong.  Whereas last time around in my class, we worked a little on politics, disguise, and other things, you now have a class for that- PMS.  Now the miscellaneous will fall under the category of the best ways to defeat a dragon, how to fight off a Dementor, and mainly, how to patrol effectively.  We will practice Archery twenty minutes a class, and the rest will be devoted to other things.  I will tolerate no nonsense; what I'm teaching you may well save your lives someday, as well as the lives of others.  Listen well, and learn all you can.  Now, everyone grab his or her bows and arrows.  Start practising, and I'll come around and help."

                The next fifteen minutes was spent shooting.  Lily's aim was off; she was shaken by the new course their classes seemed to be taking.  It was a lot more serious, and she was beginning to realise that being an Auror was no picnic.

                "Class!!!  Gather over here!  As you might have seen, there are seven of you in every class, and it's the same seven.  That's no mistake.  You are all in the same patrol group, which is A53, correct?  Good!  I'm supposed to be telling you the pecking order!  Well, here it is!  Your quad head is Mr. Sigbert Witty!  Your unit head is Oswyn Prowd!  The Adiutor head is Horace Bones!  Daniel McKinnon currently fills the post of Imperator!  You are under all of these wonderfully capable and proficient people, and you will follow their orders at all times.  Do you have any questions?"

                One young man, looking about twenty-two, timidly asked,  "We have Auror numbers on our sheet.  What do they mean?"  He was a rather average man, with brown hair and unremarkable eyes of the same colour.

                "Miles Ninion!  What do you think they mean?  How many Aurors are there in a quad?" asked another man, who looked to be about the same age.  He shook his head, making his brown, shoulder-length hair fly.  Though he looked to be ridiculing, his blue eyes twinkled, telling the world he was only kidding.

                "Melchior Jankin!" said yet another man, who was obviously mocking the second.  He was tall, thin, and had flaming red hair with freckles.  The three were obviously good friends.  "It was a good question, even if we already know that through logical reasoning!"

                "Jankin, Ninion, Weasley!  All of you stop.  Ninion, the number indicates what Auror number you are in the group- each number has a different job, and the Auror in that position needs particular skills.  Jankin, I agree with Weasley, and Weasley, stop disrupting the class.  I will explain your numbers right now.  Who is 1?  Ninion?  Yes, I always thought you had a good mind for logic.  1's decide if a mission is simply too dangerous to pull off.  They also make other logical decisions for the group.  2?  Bill Weasley, is it?  Your job is to plan the strategies.  You're probably quite good at chess, correct?"  Bill Weasley nodded.  "Denton Cuthbert, in the back with the blond mullet cut, is 3, I believe.  Yes?  He maintains your shields when you need them.  Edwin Drugo is 4; he is the one who excels at escape routes.  We've already tested and taught him quite a bit about group Apparating.  He'll do all of that for you.  5 appears to be…" Master Sagitto conjured a piece of paper out of midair.  "Ah, yes!  Fulk Enoch.  He guards the flanks, and rear.  Enoch has an uncanny sense of where trouble is; he's never gotten hit once in the showers."  This was a remarkable feat.  Lily had an awful time staying away from curses in the showers, and she was a lot smaller than Fulk, who looked to be at least two heads taller than Lily.  He was also very broad, and muscular.  "Enoch also provides your group with physical strength.  6 is Jankin.  Jankin is the dueller.  While you make a getaway, he'll slow up the pursuers.  And last, but not least, is Rhannon.  She's standing right in front, though you at the back won't be able to see her.  She's 7, and her job is to scout.  Before you go into a potentially hazardous area, she's going to go scout it out for you, make sure it isn't a trap.  She'll also help Ninion with rearguard.  Got that?  Good, because it's time for your next class.  Cheers!"

                Quadrant A53 hurried to their next class (HTH) as one unit, and the next class (MA.)  On the way they talked and joked, getting to know each other quite well.  Mel, Miles, and Bill were best friends.  Miles was a little absentminded, and a little bit slower, but his logic was irrefutable.  He was also one of the nicest people Lily had ever met.  Mel was a bit more of a daredevil, but he was the fastest on his feet out of their quad. Bill was Bill.  Extremely good at knowing what to do to win, and he had a beautiful disarming spell.  He also had a penchant for saying "Bloody!"  Denton was a character.  He wasn't the brightest, but he had pure strength.  He also had a sense of humour that would make even Malfoy laugh.  Eddy was not the nicest person there.  His shrewd, calculating mind and his cold, hard way of looking at things made him hard to warm up to.  Fulk was quite quiet.  He had a respect for all life that was strange to see in one so strong and good with curses.

                By the time that WSF was over Lily was aching, (there had been a new test of stealth- all seven of them had to sneak across a field set with motion detectors and all sorts of traps,) but it was definitely worth it.  She had made new friends, and she was well on her way to making a difference in the world.

~~~

                Back at school, James, Sirius, and Peter were too busy to even notice that Lily was dividing her time between Ara, Michelle, and Lina.  Remus, on the other hand, was desperately confuzzled as to why Lily was being borderline uncivil.  He made several attempts at speaking with her, to no avail.  Eventually he stopped trying, giving it up for some little quirk and resolving to try again another day.

                Lily went to train behind Jingle before she went to patrol.  She decided not to overwork; she wanted to be at her best for that night.  So, after a few failed attempts at _Expelliarmus_ without a wand, Lily stopped for the evening.  At half-past ten Lily port-keyed to the camp area, nerves jingling in her stomach like an awful orchestra.

                "Hello!  First patrol tonight?  Oh, don't be nervous!  They won't send you anywhere dangerous.  Get changed over there, and meet beneath the sign that says 'Outgoing Patrol," Frank said, pointing to the left.

                "Thanks, Frank!"  Lily replied.  She had never even noticed the area where she was headed.  It appeared to be the Headquarters of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

                As Lily changed, she went through all of the previous night's lessons on patrolling in her mind.  She only hoped she wouldn't forget everything the moment she got out onto the field.  Fully dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror.  Black trousers, black shirt, black jumper with the one dark blue stripe.  Hair back, covered with a black, tight-fitting cap.  All things considered, Lily thought she looked rather like a little witch girl playing Auror.

                Changed and as ready as she'd ever be, Lily went out to wait beneath the sign that Frank had pointed out.  Fulk was already there.

                "Nervous, Zia?" he asked, smiling as she polished her wand with the bottom of her jumper.

                "Just a little!"  Lily replied.  "You?"

                "Same.  I can't help but feel apprehensive…"

                "Ah, don't worry buddy!"  Denton joined the conversation.  "I'm sure everyone is nervous.  My dad said he was."

                "What happened to your dad, his first time patrolling?"  Miles asked, interestedly.

                "Hm, well, he can't exactly remember.  He walked into the gate going out, and woke up a few days later."

                "Isn't that a great thing to hear right now!"  Mel said, sarcastically.

                "Really boosts our confidence, that does!" added Bill.  Eddy walked out behind him.

                "Okay, listen up A53!"  Mr. Beechman said.  "This is your first patrol, and I want you to go along the marshes.  Master Sagitto has instructed you on what to do.  Just look for anything unusual, and if you find anything, call it back to HQ on your comm. system.  Then send Zia out to scout for you, and if she says it looks unusual, head in.  Also, listen to your 1!  If he says it's too dangerous, it probably is.  Call back to HQ for backup.  If it's not, then listen to 2 for strategy.  Now, head out, and good luck!"

                A53 headed out of camp on their first patrol.  When they had gotten about halfway through the marshes, and it was about 2:00, they spotted an eerie green light glowing in the distance, and heard screams.  When they got closer, they heard the sickening cracks of breaking bones, accompanied by more screams.  Then-


	16. MORE Thanks and a VERY important AN

 Okay, VERY important note:  Fireangel621 is taking a break from the writing world… Her Harry Potter stories are "Troubled Lily," "Friends till the End," "Alternate Destiny," and "Wizard Dueling Competition."  If you follow any of these stories, (and if you don't, you should!) you should know that Lina's dealing with the death of her baby cousin who was in a car accident while Lina was in Europe.  {We'll miss you, Lina!

Also, I'm not going to be updating this story much either.  I start uni in autumn, and I'll be quite busy…  Also, OOTP really threw this story for a loop!  We'll see how it turns out……..

Lina-Once again, I'm really sorry….

Alexandra- Thanks for the compliments!  I'm not emailing you this time around, but I will when we next get to an update!

GringottsDragon- Thanks for the offer to beta, but I've actually found someone… I did email you, but I don't know if you ever got it!

Ara- Yea, she is, but not for long.  And anyways, Figwit, (Which should be Ligwit.. email me and I'll tell you!)  be patient!  You do get a bigger er… cameo!

Em-Thanks Em…

Amy-  (See GringottsDragon)

Kerry- Thanks!  Animagus Lily bugs me as well…  If she was one, wouldn't she have been mentioned?

Caryn- Thanks- I think I've fixed that!

Vana-you did…. I miss you!

Laure-Don't you love cliffies?  (*wink*)

Val- Thanks!

Concerned- No, I'm not… I sent you an email on it, I believe

Kat6528-Sorry about the cliffy… though I can't promise I won't do it again!


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